Chapter 85

<Thousand Hands(千手)>

-Grade: A

-Type: Gauntlet

-A gauntlet made at the request of the great Fist Master Palmawon. It has a special enchantment magic that can store three weapons per side, six weapons in total, and use their abilities at will. The stat increase varies depending on the performance of the stored weapons.

-Slot 1: Tyrant’s Left Arm/Tyrant’s Right Arm

-Slot 2: Empty

-Slot 3: Empty

-Only weapons in the form of fists can be stored.

After checking the information of Thousand Hands, Yuseong burst into a hollow laugh.

He had tried it thinking there might be a chance since it wasn’t clearly categorized like knuckles or gauntlets, but he never expected something like this would actually be stored.

‘Can it store anything as long as it’s in the form of a fist? Then if I go to a world with giant robot weapons and take just the arms, or order a specially made giant robot arm focused on destructive power from Earth… No, that’s going too far.’

If something like that were really possible, Thousand Hands would deserve more than an S rank.

Considering Thousand Hands’ original grade, there must be some size limitation.

“That’s not what’s important right now. How do I defeat that thing?”

He had obtained enough attack power to take down the enemy, but that power only means something after landing a hit.

Oswald’s speed was truly terrifying.

Closing a hundred-meter distance in a single step, casually catching flying bullets, and throwing dozens of punches in the blink of an eye.

With his current speed, before he could even attempt an attack, he would surely meet his end from Oswald’s punches.

‘Should I try a surprise attack like when I defeated Nord?’

Yuseong shook his head as he imagined showing a cowardly appearance before launching a surprise attack.

Even at point-blank range, someone who could catch flying bullets wouldn’t likely fail to dodge a mere punch.

‘Eye of Truth isn’t much help, even using all my mana Thorny Vine probably won’t bind his feet, with such a huge spec difference using Asura Perception Way would be meaningless, and joint locks probably won’t work on that massive body…’

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t picture landing a hit on Oswald.

Half in resignation and half in search of a solution, Yuseong’s eyes narrowed as he observed the massacre.

Since the leaders and elites of each faction were swept away early on, most of the survivors were just regular troops.

Comparing their skills with Oswald’s speed, logically, their attacks shouldn’t even come close.

However, the scene before him was different.

There was Oswald, allowing effective hits from sword strikes and arrows launched by ordinary warriors, not just blind attacks.

As he carefully observed this, Yuseong soon realized something and gave a hollow laugh.

“…I worried for nothing.”

Yuseong threw himself forward.

A speed that was not just ordinary but slow.

Without using Flash Step and just running normally, there was no way he could achieve proper speed.

Flash Step wasn’t the only thing Yuseong wasn’t using.

He wasn’t using minor skills, internal energy, or even mana.

Literally throwing himself into the middle of the battlefield trusting only his body.

“Hahaha… huh?”

Even Oswald, consumed by madness, momentarily let out a dumbfounded sound at this bizarre charge.

‘Has he gone mad from fear? Well, if he’s coming to me asking to be killed, I should oblige.’

Concerned that he might lose his life meaninglessly by colliding with himself, Oswald landed precisely in front of Yuseong through careful force control, raising his arm with a cruel smile.

Just bringing it down would end everything.

However, seeing Yuseong throwing a punch at him, Oswald leaned forward with an expression like he’d found an interesting toy.

Whoosh!

A completely ordinary punch, neither imbued with aura nor enhanced with mana.

‘No need to dodge an attack like this.’

He deliberately takes the hit.

He’ll deliberately take it, make him realize how big the gap between them is, make him understand how meaningless his resistance was, and then kill him.

Just imagining what expression he would make in his final moments brought a thrilling pleasure.

“Come on!”

A punch aimed at the knee.

Oswald raised the corners of his mouth, imagining Yuseong screaming while clutching his shattered fist.

Crack!

‘…Huh?’

The sound of something breaking and lowering vision.

Realizing something was wrong, he tried to step back, but his legs wouldn’t move.

In his panicked eyes, he saw Yuseong swinging his other fist.

Boom!

He couldn’t feel anything below his chest.

Only then realizing he’d been hit, Oswald reflexively summoned a potion.

A rational decision to drink a healing potion since he was injured.

That was Oswald’s last moment.

BOOM!

An uppercut to the jaw and a violent explosion.

And what was once Oswald scattered in all directions.

“…”

“…”

The battlefield was enveloped in terrible silence.

Just three times.

The monster they thought impossible to defeat had met his end with just three punches.

Feeling people’s gazes mixed with doubt, fear, shock, and denial, Yuseong calmly lowered his fist.

“Your arrogance killed you.”

Oswald had taken attacks with his body even when he could have dodged them.

That wasn’t necessarily wrong.

His skin had transformed into a shell harder than armor, and with regenerative abilities that could heal wounds in the blink of an eye, taking ordinary attacks head-on probably wouldn’t have been a problem.

The real issue was that he deliberately took hits from attacks he didn’t need to take.

When Yuseong saw him deliberately moving to take hits that would have missed if left alone, or exposing vital points as if inviting attacks, he realized Oswald was drunk on arrogance.

After that, it was simple.

Put all effort into appearing harmless, ingrain in his unconscious mind that such attacks could be taken without concern, then unleash Tyrant’s destructive power on his defenseless body.

If he had been a real warrior, he would have sensed something wrong with such harmless appearances and stayed alert, but since Oswald was just an alchemist who boosted his abilities with doping, this kind of trick could work.

‘…By the way, this is completely broken.’

Yuseong looked down at his fist with a hollow smile.

One hit blew away his legs, the second hit vaporized his torso, and the third hit shattered his head to pieces.

He had thought the power would be much weaker compared to when the arms were attached to their original body, but perhaps because the force was concentrated in a human fist that was practically a dot compared to Gigant’s fist, it seemed the power had actually increased.

‘Thanks to the 99% shock absorption option, there’s almost no recoil too.’

He had imagined terrible scenarios like his arms shattering or shoulders being torn off from the reaction force, but at this level, he could use it in actual combat without any problems.

While indulging in happy fantasies about taking down monsters using Tyrant’s monstrous strength, a voice came from behind Yuseong.

“I can’t believe it. That you took down that monster.”

“So you were alive.”

“Of course I’m alive. Did you perhaps hope I was dead?”

“It’s not that, but I couldn’t see you anywhere so I thought you were dead.”

“I was hiding because I thought there was no way I could face Oswald.”

“…”

Seeing Yuseong’s sour expression, Dorothy subtly averted her gaze.

“Ahem, anyway, how exactly did you defeat Oswald? Were you hiding your strength?”

“It’s a miracle, a miracle. Don’t think too deeply about it.”

“…A miracle, is it.”

Though it wasn’t a situation that could be explained with the word miracle, Dorothy sensed Yuseong’s reluctance to talk about it and didn’t probe further.

“Miracle or whatever, it doesn’t matter. What’s important is that you defeated Oswald and everyone fears you now. Would it be alright to use your name to reassure the survivors?”

“I don’t mind. But looking at the atmosphere, I don’t think you need to use me at all?”

The expedition’s situation was miserable.

The six houses that received the joint attack from four forces were almost annihilated, the Iron Giant didn’t have a single Gigant left, and the Mercenary who had to face Oswald head-on lost all their elites and only small fry remained.

Only the Nature’s Rest, who were in the rear, and the Sewer, who avoided fights with their excellent survival instincts, suffered minimal damage.

Since the Sewer, composed of various professions, was superior to the Nature’s Rest, made up entirely of mages, in terms of combat power and flexibility, they would naturally take hegemony even without his intervention.

“I’m not just talking about reassuring them. I’m thinking of uniting all the surviving forces under your name.”

“Are you thinking of making me king or something?”

“King is going too far, but I’m thinking of making you a symbol of the new era. How about it? Doesn’t it tempt you?”

“I think it’s better to stop that. If you really want to do it, I recommend you do it yourself instead of me, Mrs. Dorothy.”

“Did you not properly understand what I said? Why are you refusing?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to do it, but I don’t think I can. I might look fine now, but my contamination is actually quite serious, so I don’t know when I might snap.”

“Hehe, you’re good at joking too.”

“…That wasn’t a joke though.”

Yuseong scratched his head while watching Dorothy walk away.

Whether due to contamination or not, Kuzan’s mental state was quite unstable.

He was worried whether someone who still couldn’t even hold a proper conversation, treating everything as mere hallucinations, could properly fulfill the role of a new era’s symbol.

But in the end, as always, he was just a problem solver meant to fulfill the quest’s specified conditions, and what came after was up to the client.

After organizing his thoughts, Yuseong went around collecting items that looked worthwhile.

Oswald’s potions, the Mercenary leader’s claymore, Vulcan’s prosthetic arms and legs, Crow’s gloves and wires, and so on.

Though he wasn’t sure how many of these items he could take back to Earth, it was better to be greedy now than regret having points left over later.

‘Shall we finish this now?’

Judging there was nothing more to collect, Yuseong carefully began approaching the forest, leaving Dorothy and the survivors behind.

And the moment he stepped from the withered land onto the life-filled green earth, the awaited message appeared.

[You have cleared the quest ‘Twisted World’.]

[Analyzing clear process, please wait a moment.]

[Fate Change Rate 193%, Otherworld Skill Usage 26%, Otherworld Artifact Usage 45%.]

[Final Evaluation: SSS Rank.]

[Amazing! User Han Yuseong has succeeded in defeating an seemingly invincible enemy and changing fate! Rewards will be distributed!]

[Basic Clear Reward: 2,000,000 Karma, Arkon Handcrafted Supreme Status Recovery Potion×10, Supreme Recovery Potion×10, High-grade Magic Stone×10, Type 35 Magic Engine×1]

[Additional Condition Clear Reward: 74,000,000 Karma, Black Mithril Ingot×240, Pure Mithril Ingot×240, Supreme Magic Stone×24, Type 99 Magic Engine×5]

[SSS Rank Clear Additional Reward: 20,000,000 Karma]

[Return to original world will begin shortly.]

“This is it!”

Yuseong smiled brightly at the hefty rewards.

He had thought the Fate Change Rate would be low due to actions that ignored plausibility, like avoiding Oswald’s unavoidable punches and uncovering the six families’ conspiracy without any evidence or deduction, but he achieved an incredible score that more than offset the Otherworld Skill and Artifact usage rates.

‘Must be thanks to taking down Oswald.’

A monster who had nearly slaughtered four forces single-handedly.

Taking him down must have been such an incredible achievement that it more than made up for the actions that ignored plausibility.

As Yuseong was scanning the rewards with satisfied eyes, he raised his head at a rustling sound from ahead.

“…”

“…”

While Last City had numerous races, elves alone did not exist.

They had been completely exterminated as the common enemy of all races for the crime of starting the continental war and spreading contamination that led the world to ruin.

Yet there was an elf, hiding behind a tree with a familiar-looking rifle.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to ask something, Yuseong’s vision was dyed white.

[Initiating Deus Ex Machina Program]

[Ariadne’s Thread tracking complete]

[Initiating spirit particle transfer.]