The Return of the Legendary All-Master
Chapter 358

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 358

“What the hell? Why did it disappear?”

Yoo Chan, who had just turned 27 this year, tilted his head in confusion.

He was a level 900 warrior who had advanced to Sword Master.

Of course, that explosive growth was thanks to Jeong-hoon’s code modification.

Until not long ago, Yoo Chan had been stuck at level 300.

When he played the game, he had only reached level 150, but after the world became reality, he signed a contract with an Incarnate and rapidly advanced, eventually achieving level 300.

Of course, that became meaningless once the dungeons were revamped and his life was put in danger again.

‘Please, show me a way to fight those things!’

Yoo Chan cried out to the Transcendent who was fully supporting him.

<‘Fallen Judge of the Celestial Realm’ says there is no way.>

‘What the… So you’re telling me to just die like this?’

<‘Fallen Judge of the Celestial Realm’ says this dimension is already finished. He says there’s nothing more he can do.>

“Damn it!”

Yoo Chan cursed loudly and dashed out of the building onto the street.

The building he had just been hiding in collapsed in an instant.

That was because goblins nearly at level 800 began pouring out.

Also, the street was now swarming with monsters.

“Chomp, chomp.”

The orcs were mercilessly slaughtering people with the weapons in their hands, and were devouring the corpses to fill their starving stomachs.

“Shit……”

Yoo Chan stood frozen in place, trembling as his face went pale.

No matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn’t come up with a way to fight them.

<‘Fallen Judge of the Celestial Realm’ says he can recommend a few peaceful ways to close your eyes.>

Even the Transcendent seemed to have given up and suggested death to Yoo Chan.

“Hah.”

Screw you.

You bastard!

If he was going to choose death so easily, he wouldn’t have fought this hard to survive!

Yoo Chan bit down on his lip and charged toward the monsters roaming the street.

He used every skill he had, every item he had purchased with his points, and barely managed to shake them off and reach the shelter.

Of course, in the process, his body was torn to shreds and he couldn’t move for a while.

“I really thought I was going to die.”

Even after escaping, Yoo Chan didn’t give up his will to live.

He planned to recover as much as he could and join forces with other survivors to hunt the monsters.

<‘Fallen Judge of the Celestial Realm’ says this might be a blessing instead. He suggests becoming a savior by freeing everyone here from their suffering.>

Talk all you want.

Yoo Chan didn’t even glance at him.

He was grateful for the full support, but that guy kept telling him to drive the survivors to their deaths and to fall in battle himself in some grand sacrifice.

‘The monsters’ levels have dropped significantly!’

‘Leveling up is much faster now!’

‘Even class advancement happens this fast?!’

Wasn’t there a saying that even if the sky falls, there’s always a way out?

The monster levels, which once seemed impossible to overcome, had drastically decreased, and the amount of experience gained from defeating just one was no joke.

Usually, the higher your level, the more experience is needed to advance, making leveling up extremely difficult—but these guys gave enough experience to level up after hunting only a few.

<‘Fallen Judge of the Celestial Realm’ is shocked. He says he’s curious what the hell is going on.>

‘Even that guy doesn’t know?’

Thinking that this was his chance, Yoo Chan ignored the Transcendent and focused entirely on hunting.

As a result, the Transcendent vanished, and even the binding contract disappeared, making him a free man.

‘It broke this easily?’

Back when the contract was signed, he had been in a thoroughly subordinate position, and the clause stated that the contract could never be broken unless the superior party willed it.

And even if, by some luck, it were broken, he would have to endure a massive penalty.

But not only had the contract been terminated, there was no penalty whatsoever.

It was truly strange.

<Would you like to transfer the contract? Or accept the penalty?>

At that moment, a new message appeared before Yoo Chan.

“A new contract? What kind of bullshit is this now?”

As Yoo Chan frowned and looked at it,

<The penalty is ‘reset.’>

The message continued.

“Reset…?”

<In simple terms, your level will return to 1 and all your items will be reclaimed.>

“You goddamn—don’t fuck with me.”

Despite Yoo Chan’s curses, the message continued quickly.

<If you transfer the contract and complete the quest, you’ll experience a growth rate on an entirely different level than before.>

A growth rate on an entirely different level.

“Oh? Is that so?”

Then there was no reason to hesitate.

Yoo Chan expressed his intent to initiate a new contract.

[Contract is being transferred.]

The contract transfer was completed in an instant.

[‘The One Who Transcended Death’ says he will assign you a new quest.]

A new Transcendent began to dominate Yoo Chan.

He was one known by the title ‘The One Who Transcended Death.’

‘Who the hell is this guy now?’

As Yoo Chan wondered, a quest appeared before him.

* * *

“There sure are a lot.”

Jeong-hoon let out a dry laugh as he looked at the countless icons.

All of these icons were Incarnates.

He had accessed the server and forcibly severed all contracts with Incarnates by driving out the Transcendents.

Normally, a penalty should’ve been imposed, but he avoided the penalty by transferring them to Thanatos.

Thanatos had successfully lured them in with 100% false promises.

Of course, if they refused the transfer, penalties would be imposed, but perhaps out of fear of the penalty—or maybe due to the anticipation of a promised growth rate unlike anything before—only a very small number of Incarnates gave up their contracts.

The Incarnates who did not transfer were all penalized and died.

<You went through all that trouble to break the seal, only to use it just to control humans?>

Tenebris found the sight extremely displeasing.

“Right now, stopping the invasion takes priority.”

Jeong-hoon completely blocked access to the dimension so that the Transcendents could no longer interfere.

Because of that, someone was needed to control the large number of Incarnates.

That’s why he chose Thanatos.

No matter what, he needed someone who could lure the Incarnates and use them as a defensive wall for Earth.

<Tsk, wouldn’t it be better to just head straight to the Divine Realm? I said I’d give you all the information I have on it.>

It would have been nice if Tenebris could help, but since he had lost his powers as a Transcendent, he was effectively nothing more than a soul tethered to Jeong-hoon.

“If we do that, we’re just playing into their hands. The others are surely monitoring the Divine Realm.”

<What’s there to worry about if you can mask your presence?>

“You think they wouldn’t notice?”

The Divine Realm is their home base.

Even if Tenebris had those abilities, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be detected.

So it was necessary to move cautiously.

<Are you seriously ignoring my abilities?!>

Tenebris burst out in rage, but Jeong-hoon’s decision didn’t change.

“You got beaten even when you still had your power.”

<That was…!>

He wanted to argue, but perhaps nothing came to mind—Tenebris was left speechless.

“Anyway, for now, we’ll block the invasion and absorb the dimension.”

<…Absorb the dimension?>

“Yeah.”

Jeong-hoon was half human, half Transcendent.

He had become the master of the dimension, but due to instability, he couldn’t exercise full authority.

However, by forcibly linking other dimensions, he could cross over—so it wasn’t an impossible plan.

<Hmm, it’s a really roundabout way……>

Tenebris was dissatisfied with the plan, but if, as Jeong-hoon said, the named ones were focused on monitoring the Divine Realm, the chances of being caught were indeed high.

If they were detected right away, they’d be erased before they even had a chance to fight back.

So moving safely was the correct answer.

“Then let’s go.”

<Go?>

“Yeah.”

The place Jeong-hoon was heading to was Earth Korea, which he had previously visited.

* * *

Earth Korea.

Oh Jin-Soo, who had been standing vacantly on the 7th floor with unfocused eyes, slowly regained clarity and blinked several times.

“Huh…? Where am I?”

Was it because he had been asleep for so long?

Everything around him felt unfamiliar, and his whole body was as heavy as cotton soaked in water—he wanted nothing more than to lie down on a bed right away.

However, he couldn’t do that because of the young man standing in front of him.

The man scanned Oh Jin-Soo up and down and asked,

“Are you conscious?”

With that one question, all of Oh Jin-Soo’s memories came flooding back like a tidal wave.

Realizing why he had been unconscious here for such a long time, a wary look settled in his eyes.

“Wh-Who are you?”

“I’m the one who woke you up.”

“You woke me… up?”

“Yes.”

As the young man nodded, Oh Jin-Soo frowned.

“How did you even do that? More importantly, who exactly are you?”

Before he lost consciousness, a message had popped up in front of him.

[NPC conversion in progress.]

Damn NPC conversion.

That had clearly been the reason he lost consciousness.

To reverse it would mean forcibly breaking out of his NPC role and restoring his original self.

===

[NPC Information]

– Nickname: Oh Jin-Soo

– Level: 100

– Class: Dungeon Manager

===

Even now, his NPC role remained the same; only his lost consciousness had been restored.

How on earth is something like this even possible?

Oh Jin-Soo waited nervously for the young man’s answer.

“If I said I was the person you used to stalk, would that ring a bell?”

“Stalk? I’ve never done such a thing.”

“I don’t really like liars.”

The young man smirked and turned his gaze toward a monitor.

Oh Jin-Soo wasn’t completely clueless—he looked at the monitor and fell deep into thought.

‘Monitor? That’s the one used to run the surveillance program. …Wait?!’

When his thoughts reached that point, Oh Jin-Soo’s eyes widened.

“C-Could it be?!”

“Yes. That ‘could it be’ is correct.”

The young man nodded in confirmation.

“It’s an honor to meet you!”

Oh Jin-Soo hurriedly bowed.

To think that the young man he had seen until now was actually Hoon.

“Don’t you have anything else to say? If not, I’ll be disappointed.”

But the young man frowned, seemingly displeased with just the greeting.

“Eh…?”

After racking his brain for a moment, Oh Jin-Soo finally realized he needed to apologize.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Apparently, the apology was the right answer, as the young man’s face finally relaxed.

“It’s a forced apology, but… if you’ll do me a favor, I’ll accept it.”

“A favor…?”

“There’s no time for a long explanation. Starting now, make a program.”

“A program? I don’t know how to do that……”

“I said there’s no time to explain. Sit down, quickly.”

“Y-Yes!”

Oh Jin-Soo scrambled to take a seat.

“You’re a Dungeon Manager, so you should be able to do it quickly. From now on, we’re going to build a radar that can detect dungeons.”

“Understood.”

Though his consciousness had only just returned, perhaps because he was now an NPC,

he felt no discomfort at all when starting the work.

Following the young man’s orders, Oh Jin-Soo began building the program.

Despite the fast pace, Oh Jin-Soo understood everything and typed rapidly on the keyboard.

‘What the…? How am I able to do all of this?’

What happened to me after I blacked out?!

‘This is insane. So this is what it feels like to see from a genius’s perspective!’

Oh Jin-Soo, filled with excitement, continued working.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]