Are You Joking?

One cannot create something from nothing.

This is a law that even transcendent beings cannot escape.

When transcendent beings create something in empty space where nothing exists, they are using resources like faith or energy, never truly creating something from absolute nothingness.

Even users who can cross dimensions must pay the price of karma as a resource to bring items or skills from other worlds or vice versa.

The same applies to Contractors on Earth.

To create and maintain hundreds of thousands of Contractors, Kang Changseok paid an equivalent price, and Contractors too pay karma accumulated through their lives as a price to transcendent beings.

Naturally, it would be impossible to turn billions of humans into ability users without any cost.

“He processed innate true energy and converted it to energy. I suppose that’s the only way to turn normal people into superhumans quickly without cost.”

Innate true energy.

It’s a power that forms the foundation of life, the purest energy that all living beings possess from birth, which must not be carelessly tampered with.

Kang Do-hyeon had been using this innate true energy to create ability users.

“…So is there some problem?”

“Of course there’s a problem. You must know what happens when innate true energy decreases.”

“Life span shortens a bit and they get minor illnesses. But isn’t that far better than being helplessly killed by monsters?”

“A bit of life span and minor illnesses, you say. By my estimate, they’ll lose at least several decades of life and within a few years develop disabilities severe enough to make daily life impossible.”

Kang Do-hyeon’s face twisted.

Not only had they seen through his identity, but they even knew the side effects of using innate true energy during dominion contracts.

‘…Just who are these guys?’

A world where only science had developed.

These beings seemed too alien for a world where supernatural powers had been known for less than a year and had only half-baked ability users who borrowed power through contracts instead of building their own strength.

One thing was certain – they were hostile to him.

Heavy silence fell in the vast cavern.

A situation that could explode at any moment.

Kang Do-hyeon moved first.

As his arm rose, everyone in the cavern simultaneously drew weapons and charged at Bruce and Kang Changseok.

“The Lord wills it!”

“Tch.”

Eyes devoid of reason.

Seeing people charging with eyes full of faith and madness, Bruce raised both arms in a stance.

And in that moment when Bruce’s attention was briefly divided, Kang Do-hyeon’s form vanished from the chair.

When Kang Do-hyeon reappeared, it was behind Kang Changseok who had been standing blankly.

‘I’ll take out the weak one first.’

Though he didn’t think he would lose, he decided to be cautious since there was always that small possibility.

Slash!

The moment he thrust a sword made of white energy toward the back of Kang Changseok’s head, a hexagonal shield appeared in mid-air to block the attack.

Though the surprise attack failed, Kang Do-hyeon wasn’t disappointed at all.

This guy hadn’t noticed until a weapon was swung at point-blank range.

He either had no close combat ability or only a pathetic level – another attack should easily take him down.

However, when he saw Kang Changseok’s face as he turned around, Kang Do-hyeon couldn’t help but be bewildered.

‘Annoyance?’

Not fear or terror, but an expression of irritation.

Kang Do-hyeon heard Kang Changseok muttering in confusion.

“Party A Kang Changseok, Party B Bankruptcy King. 3-second limited contract. 3 million karma points paid.”

Along with those incomprehensible mutterings, the fist he threw easily shattered the sword and struck Kang Do-hyeon’s chest, sending him flying far away.

“Party A Kang Changseok, Party B Surtr. 10-second limited contract. 10 million karma points paid.”

Whoosh!

“Arghhhh!”

A terrible scream burst from Kang Do-hyeon’s mouth, who hadn’t even groaned when his chest bones were shattered.

It was understandable.

What Kang Changseok had created wasn’t simple flame but the flames of destruction that could burn the whole world.

Looking at Kang Do-hyeon struggling while engulfed in flames hot enough to melt stone, Kang Changseok clicked his tongue briefly.

Currently, due to certain circumstances, he could neither use the goggles nor accumulate karma points.

In a situation where he needed to save even the tiniest bit of karma, he had wasted millions of points – this made bringing Bruce pointless.

However, Kang Changseok soon had to take back his thoughts.

Crack!

Snap!

Along with sounds of flesh tearing and bones twisting, Kang Do-hyeon’s charred body began rapidly transforming.

A white halo and black horns sprouted from his head, grotesque wings with feathers attached to bones grew from his back, and sharp, vicious claws emerged from his fingertips.

“Party A Kang Changseok! Party B…”

The creature that was once Kang Do-hyeon, now with reverse-jointed legs, kicked off the ground and reached Kang Changseok before he could finish speaking, swinging its hand.

Clang!

“I am your opponent.”

The creature’s face twisted upon seeing Bruce casually block its attack.

All its carefully created slaves were dead, and it had failed to kill the human who had inflicted terrible pain on it.

It could no longer hold back.

Plans be damned – if it couldn’t release this boiling rage, it felt like it would die from bursting.

‘Kill! Kill! Kill!’

Thinking to end this quickly, it drew out what little faith remained and unleashed attacks.

However, before long the creature realized something was wrong.

This human was too strong.

It couldn’t believe its eyes when he dispersed its full-power strike with just a wave of his hand.

An opponent that would have been challenging even for its past self.

Its current self, having fallen to a mere mortal after losing divinity, had no chance.

‘This is dangerous.’

It was just then, while thinking only of escape, that the creature spotted Yuseong.

After firing energy at Bruce, the creature flew toward Yuseong with all its might.

Though it planned to take Yuseong hostage for negotiations, this ultimately proved a fatal misjudgment.

Whoosh!

The creature’s eyes widened upon seeing the human barely dodge its attack.

‘Was this one the same kind as those guys?’

Yuseong was equally bewildered.

‘Are you joking? If you let it slip away so easily, what am I supposed to do?’

He had fired the arrow expecting Bruce to hold it in place, but he never imagined it would break free so easily.

Finding himself face to face with a monster that could casually destroy a city made his head spin, but he couldn’t just stay dazed forever.

Buzz!

The creature, snapping back to attention at the sound like buzzing bees, swung its arm again, but Yuseong had already used Flash Step to move safely out of range and cast Cloud Mist.

The mist spread rapidly to fill the surroundings, far beyond just covering his body.

The creature, which had laughed dismissively at first, soon couldn’t help but show a perplexed expression.

Cloud Mist, being made of energy, interfered not just with vision but even with detection through energy sensing.

It frantically swung its arms but mere wind pressure couldn’t disperse Cloud Mist.

‘First I need to get out of this mist…’

Boom!

The creature’s thoughts went no further.

Its consciousness flew away from the intense impact to its jaw.

Of course, the torn jaw regenerated instantly and consciousness returned in the blink of an eye.

‘What just happened…’

Boom!

Another explosion and lost consciousness.

Having confirmed the creature’s position through Cloud Mist as it staggered with its lower jaw blown off, Yuseong launched himself forward again with full force.

Shooting Star.

A skill whose power was determined by strength, internal energy, magic power, and speed.

When he had heavily relied on Tyrant’s arms, it was a trump card used only at critical moments, but things were different now after his Solver rank increased and he learned Infinite Origin Force.

With internal energy and magic power more than doubled, plus Infinite Origin Force allowing greater power with less effort, he could now use Shooting Star consecutively.

Boom!

The intervals between explosions grew shorter.

It was evidence that he was becoming more accustomed to consecutive use of Shooting Star over time.

A bright smile spread across Yuseong’s face.

The effects of Infinite Origin Force were truly amazing.

Just taking a few breaths filled his empty dantian with internal energy, and if that wasn’t enough, he could convert magic power and spirit power.

It felt like an organ producing infinite energy had formed in his body.

‘If I pour all this power into a single strike…’

“That’s enough.”

When Bruce’s voice rang out, Yuseong immediately withdrew his internal energy and stepped back.

‘Did he notice?’

Bruce, being the creator of Infinite Origin Force, would certainly recognize it.

Just as Yuseong was anxiously wondering if Bruce would grab his collar and demand to know where he got Infinite Origin Force, he could finally relax upon hearing Bruce’s words.

“You’re strong. I can hardly believe you’ve been a user for less than a year.”

At those words, Yuseong realized two things.

One was that Bruce hadn’t recognized Infinite Origin Force.

Whether because he only circulated internal energy inside his body or because of Cloud Mist, Bruce showed no sign of noticing his use of Infinite Origin Force.

And the other was…

“What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s fine.”

‘He deliberately let it escape to test my abilities.’

The first miss might have been a mistake, but arriving this late had to be intentional.

But Yuseong didn’t make an issue of it.

It wasn’t really something to get angry about.

Just as he had been curious about Bruce’s abilities, Bruce might have been curious about his.

Of course, asking to show one’s abilities and deliberately letting an enemy escape were completely different matters, and if pressed, he might be able to get some small compensation.

However, that only applied if he had no weaknesses.

The saying about thieves being most wary of theft exists for a reason.

Worried about Infinite Origin Force being discovered, Yuseong couldn’t strongly confront Bruce.

“Hmm.”

Was this response unexpected?

Bruce stared at Yuseong through narrowed eyes with a suspicious feeling.

“You…”

“Raaaaargh!”

Fortunately for Yuseong, the unconscious creature regained consciousness at just the right moment.

As Bruce turned his gaze toward the creature, Yuseong let out a relieved sigh and quietly stepped back.

“How dare! How dare! How dare! Mere mortals!”

Mighty energy spread out from the creature.

The impact was strong enough to shake even Yuseong’s insides, despite his mastery of energy control being second to none.

However, Bruce, who was closest to the creature, didn’t even flinch as he casually swung his fist.

It looked like a light punch that couldn’t pierce paper, but the result defied common sense.

“Ugh…”

A huge hole appeared in the creature’s chest.