‘Ngh.’
Jormungandr looked on with a troubled expression.
“Choose. Are you going to keep bickering with me to the end? Or are you going to coolly leave this place?”
‘You need only remain here.’
Jormungandr’s choice remained unchanged.
At those words, Shinhyeok tried to rush in again.
But familiar black minerals flew in from either side.
‘Adamantium?’
They melted in midair, and two round hemispheres approached while facing each other.
“You son of a—!”
‘Cool your temper in there.’
Bang!
They collided fiercely, and the hemispheres stuck together.
The seam melted down on its own, becoming a perfect sphere.
Bam! Bam!
The sound of someone pounding violently rang out.
Jormungandr ignored it and coiled the sphere away for storage.
‘You should be safe there.’
“Hey!”
At the piercing scream that rang out clearly, Jormungandr inched away from the sphere.
A distinct mental wave brushed against his mind.
‘Hmm.’
“Are you scared?! This is cowardly!”
‘I cannot hear you.’
“You can hear me. You cowardly bastard!”
As the telepathy grew clearer and more intense, Jormungandr buried his face in the floor.
‘Noisy.’
Trapped inside the sphere, Shinhyeok pounded on it with both hands as if they were about to burst.
“Open it! Open up!”
[Administrator. I will share Miss Baek Arin’s condition.]
At Akashic’s renewed report, Shinhyeok flinched.
[Her remaining vitality is currently 1%.]
[There is a high likelihood she will die soon.]
“No, not yet!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He pounded until it felt as though both hands were bursting and breaking.
“Open up! You damn anchovy!”
‘Shut up.’
“Huh?! Yeah, you’re descended from an anchovy, aren’t you!? An anchovy turned into a dragon!”
‘Please, just shut up.’
“I can break this!”
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Shinhyeok struck the sphere with all his strength.
But the adamantium did not yield even a crack.
He hurriedly rummaged through his pocket.
He had secretly taken a small piece of uranium earlier.
[Administrator. You must not directly induce nuclear fission.]
Ignoring Akashic’s words entirely, Shinhyeok focused on his work.
[Melting - Uranium]
Akashic’s urgent shout rang out again.
[Administrator! If you do that, there is a high chance you will take all the damage head-on! Administrator!]
“Shut up. It’s all or nothing.”
The state of the uranium appeared in detail before Shinhyeok’s eyes.
He knew how nuclear bombs were made, and he knew the principle behind them.
Uranium released terrifying energy through fission.
And that fission could be drawn out as much as he wanted through his melting.
The uranium in Shinhyeok’s hand began to glow.
Energy that seemed ready to explode surged wildly, slowly dyeing the surroundings red.
[Ah…….]
Akashic’s dazed reply appeared.
[You crazy bastard.]
The highest praise rang out.
Shinhyeok smiled and let go.
“Come on.”
Just before the explosion erupted, the adamantium sphere opened.
Jormungandr opened his mouth and tried to swallow Shinhyeok.
Startled, Shinhyeok dropped what he was holding and fell backward on his rear.
Gulp.
Jormungandr twisted his body and swallowed only the glowing piece of uranium.
Bang!
Smoke and sparks leaked from his mouth.
Sssst.
Jormungandr swallowed the erupting energy and sent it through his body.
‘You insane… human.’
Shinhyeok smiled and said again to Jormungandr, who wore a look of utter revulsion.
“So. Let’s get out.”
‘Hahaha. This stubbornness is annoyingly tenacious.’
At Shinhyeok’s stubbornness, Jormungandr was clearly reminded of someone.
‘Very well. Fine.’
At the other party’s words that he would leave, Shinhyeok clenched his fist.
‘However, I shall test you.’
Jormungandr opened his mouth, revealing his fangs.
A transparent liquid was flowing along those fangs.
‘If you endure this poison, I will leave. And I will also clear away those gnat-like things, just as you wish.’
Liquid trickled from his fangs and dripped to the floor.
Jormungandr’s poison touched the adamantium.
Tssssss.
The adamantium burned and melted down.
“…….”
Shinhyeok pointed at the poison with an incredulous face.
“You want me to endure that poison?”
‘If you dislike it, then don’t.’
As Jormungandr closed his mouth and tried to turn away, Shinhyeok hurriedly stopped him.
“Who said I wouldn’t do it! I will! I said I’ll do it!”
Shinhyeok had no way back now.
He blurted it out in a loud voice.
Jormungandr smiled eerily and opened his mouth, preparing the poison.
‘If you have any last words, I will hear them in advance.’
“Don’t make me laugh. I’ll be perfectly fine.”
Drop.
Once again, a single drop of poison fell to the floor.
The fallen droplet of poison touched the crown of Shinhyeok’s head.
“It doesn’t hurt as dramatically as I thought.”
Realizing that the pain was less than expected compared to its overwhelming performance, Shinhyeok felt relieved.
“Ha, testing me with something like this? I think I won.”
Jormungandr smiled and coiled his body.
‘Endure it well. Remember one thing. My poison is not corrosion. It is circulation. It merely possesses the power to make all things soft and obedient, so that they may enter the cycle.’
Shinhyeok found his words strange.
“I’m fine, though?”
‘Kkheuk.’
When Shinhyeok took one step, his body felt strange.
“Uh…….”
Everything visible to Shinhyeok’s eyes shook.
He collapsed helplessly to the floor.
“Ke, keugh….”
Soon after, something went wrong with his breathing.
He could not breathe as he wished.
Shinhyeok clutched his throat and thrashed.
‘If you give up even now, I shall detoxify you.’
Shinhyeok gripped the floor hard and endured.
The pain was so immense that he could not even scream.
But.
‘I’ll… live. I’ll survive, no matter what.’
Thump. Thump, thump.
Shinhyeok’s heart beat strangely.
With intermittent beats, blood began to pool throughout his entire body.
‘Your normal bodily circulation and flow should begin to twist soon.’
Jormungandr explained every detail of the poison’s progress.
‘After that, you will collapse on a cellular level and scatter into small pieces of flesh.’
Shinhyeok firmly held on to his mind as it slowly began to disperse.
‘I can live. There has to be a way to live…….’
Jormungandr sneered at Shinhyeok’s will.
‘Do you know what remains then?’
He answered in place of the drying Shinhyeok.
‘The soul. But what will you do? My poison scatters even that soul.’
At some point, Shinhyeok realized he was no longer concerned about breathing.
‘Ah…….’
His heart was no longer beating.
His soul separated from his body.
Jormungandr stared at Shinhyeok’s soul and spoke.
‘That is the end. You return to being a mere part of all creation. Do you truly still intend not to give up?’
Shinhyeok looked at himself in his soul state.
The tips of his soul’s feet were disappearing.
‘You have one minute left. After that, you will vanish forever. So give up, I said.’
At his urging, Shinhyeok wondered if it was real.
‘Am I really going to die like this?’
[Administrator.]
At that moment, Akashic cut in.
[Think again about the meaning of circulation.]
[Circulation does not mean only death.]
[What comes after death?]
‘After death?’
[If that is difficult, let us change the subject.]
[What happens to a world where an apocalypse has occurred?]
‘Isn’t there nothing?’
Akashic said no.
[No. New life blooms again. New life comes again to the place where the apocalypse occurred. That is circulation.]
Looking at his own soul, more than half scattered now, Shinhyeok said,
‘He said it was a poison of circulation, not annihilation, right?’
[That is correct.]
‘That means there’s something after this.’
[Of course, you must face what comes next, Administrator. So do not just stand there like an idiot.]
At Akashic’s cold advice, Shinhyeok gave a faint laugh.
He raised his hand and touched his own soul.
‘I have to be perfectly broken and scattered before I can make myself anew cleanly.’
Akashic quietly cheered on Shinhyeok, who had found the answer.
[Good luck.]
Shinhyeok simply waited.
Seeing him attempt to accept death, Jormungandr smiled with deep interest.
‘You will die….’
‘Death probably isn’t the end.’
‘How can you be so certain?’
‘Because you said it. Circulation.’
At those words, Jormungandr writhed his entire body in delight.
‘That’s right. That is circulation.’
Shinhyeok’s soul scattered all the way to the top of his head.
Jormungandr quietly watched over that place.
‘He will return. He will definitely return. He will not die like this….’
[If you’re that nervous, you should’ve just let him go.]
‘How could I send him out in that state? He is so weak that he looks like he will die at the slightest touch.’
Thump. Thump, thump.
[You have realized the profound principle of circulation.]
[Because death is not the end, you have realized a new beginning.]
[New main skill “Metamorphosis” has been created.]
The sound of someone’s heartbeat rang out again.
The scattered fragments of the soul gathered once more.
[He’s back.]
‘He is reborn.’
Shinhyeok returned with a soul clearer and more transparent than before.
He smiled and entered his own body.
He collected the traces that remained only as pieces of flesh.
[Self Body Transmutation.]
Shinhyeok restored his own body by himself.
[Forcibly entering Mortal Shedding Rebirth.]
He built everything back up exactly as it had been.
A short time passed, and Shinhyeok exhaled roughly.
“Huuuuugh…!”
Breathing harshly, he groped over his body.
He couldn’t see his clothes, but his body was intact.
“I’m alive!”
[Status Window]
Name: Bu Shinhyeok (LV.300)
Class: Alchemist, Notdrasil Administrator
Strength: 4546
Agility: 4415
Stamina: 5654
Mana: 10254
Mental Power: 3412 + 1823
Traits: Mana Coagulate, Supreme Dragon’s Protection, Akashic Cabinet, Mortal Shedding Rebirth
[Owned Skills]
=========================
[Main Skills]
Smart Factory (LV.10)
Transmutation (LV.46)[77/100%]
-Material
-Golem
-Magic
-Living Being
-Simulation
Metamorphosis (LV.1)
[Sub Skills]
Mana Mapping (LV.66)[12/100%]
Mana Heart (LV.78)[76/100%]
Three Calamities Art (LV.56)[76/100%]
Sensory Blade (LV.MAX)[99/100%]
Soul Link (LV.12)[35/100%]
==========================
Jormungandr looked down at him with a satisfied face.
‘I will do as you said.’
Shinhyeok thought of the new skill he had obtained, “Metamorphosis.”
‘It’s the profound principle of circulation.’
[Metamorphosis]
====================================
A unique authority created through the realization of the laws of circulation. It enables self-exchange of matter.
====================================
‘It’s self-exchange.’
It was an unrivaled technique for replenishing rare and insufficient minerals.
“Good. Now let’s hurry out.”
Jormungandr prepared to leave, twisting his body for the first time in a long while.
‘However, not everyone realizes the laws of circulation and returns as you did.’
Shinhyeok worried about Baek Arin, who was barely hanging on with 1% vitality.
‘Don’t worry. There’s a way…!’
Shinhyeok believed in Baek Arin more than anyone.
“She’ll definitely come back. She’s not someone who’s going to die now.”
Wooooong.
Shinhyeok stood before the wall of the central sphere and gripped uranium in his hand.
‘I will open it for you, so put that away.’
Shinhyeok snorted and refused.
“No.”
[Melting - Uranium]
‘Damn it.’
A larger piece of uranium than before gave off light.
Shinhyeok flung the uranium at the wall and made a beeline for the safety of Jormungandr’s mouth.
“Hurry up and close it, quick!”
‘Damn brat.’
Jormungandr obediently closed his mouth.
Kwwaaang!
The violent impact shook the earth, and the adamantium turned soft and limp.
Seeing this, Jormungandr forcefully crashed into the sphere.
Swoosh.
After emerging from the central sphere, Jormungandr opened his mouth wide.
“Hey! Where’s Arin!?”
The gods, who had been quiet, were startled by Shinhyeok’s appearance.
- Why is that thing out!?
- Crazy!
- The Serpent of the End!?
- Why is that open!
- Who called him!?
Sssst.
Jormungandr looked at the many gods for the first time in ages.
‘Depraved ones. Those who forsook His grace.’
- Shut up! Open that quickly!
- O-Orichalcum, where was the orichalcum!?
Shinhyeok sneered at them and touched the softened adamantium.
“It should work now.”
[Transmutation - Adamantium Coating]
He covered the inside of the Astra Ring with adamantium.
- Damn it!
- How is he handling that much of it!?
- He’s doing what that dwarf couldn’t!
- Someone get rid of him!
- Sa, save me.