Chapter 70

Spoils (2)

To be honest, I hadn't intended to use Predation[S+] on Avarus.

Unlike the lycanthrope, the Legion Commander of Beasts, Avarus was still a human. A human who happened to be a deranged alchemist.

Even that grotesquely twisted mass of flesh was merely the product of alchemy, not a mutation caused by some genetic ability. There was therefore no ability I could gain by using Predation[S+] on him. It would only leave a nasty taste in my mouth.

But that was no longer true of Avarus. Unlike in my previous life, he had consumed the Elixir of Infinity.

And Avarus had confessed that the Elixir of Infinity had been made using the Sovereign of the Abyss's Authority as its raw material. By consuming it, he had absorbed the Authority of infinity in its entirety. That was what had allowed him to use the absurd barrier known as the Infinite Labyrinth.

In that case, couldn't I gain that ability too if I consumed his heart with Predation[S+]?

Just as I had consumed the Sovereign of Beasts' genetic material from the lycanthrope with Predation[S+], perhaps I could consume the Sovereign of the Abyss's Authority from Avarus. Acting on that thought, I used Predation[S+] on him—and then...

◆You have consumed genetic material from the entity 'Z’thulonak'!

A message bearing a strange name rather than Avarus's appeared before my eyes.

Z’thulonak.

What an odd name. No kingdom on the continent used names like that. In other words, it was a name I had never heard before.

Just as I was wondering what ability I would gain, caught between anticipation and curiosity...

【la’nak fhtagn ■■’nashack】

A voice suddenly whispered in my ear.

【Zhai, ng’gha tharan doey ‘yog-Sath】

A side effect of Predation[S+]. But this Madness took a different form than usual. I couldn't understand its meaning at all.

【Azh ia’nak fhtagn ■■’nashak.】

I could tell that this was the voice of the Sovereign of the Abyss. Which meant that the ability I was currently consuming with Predation[S+] was that Sovereign's Authority.

Power on another level, something I wouldn't have dared dream of obtaining in my previous life. As it seeped into my body—

WHOOOOSH!

Every color and sound in the world seemed to warp and distort. Faced with a being from the depths beyond, my mind was contaminated in an instant—but...

◆Player's Will[EX] resists The Inexplicable Terror of the Unknown!

Slowly but surely, my reason returned.

【Zhai’oth nog n’gha vulgtm ehye.】

But the whispers kept coming.

【Nglui l’ ah nafh Yog-shoggoth.】

They rolled over me like an endless succession of waves.

【wgah’nagl, r’luhhor shoggoth fhtagn.】

I couldn't understand what they meant. But the whispers carried messages of terror, despair, and madness, and merely hearing them shook my mind.

The whispers grew ever more intense. Terror ensnared me like tentacles reaching out of the abyss.

My vision distorted everywhere. A dull pulse sounded in my ears. Rough sand seemed to scrape my skin. Water droplets tasted bitter and foul.

As though everything were twisting, the reality of my five senses warped, and the contours of the world crumbled—

【Even so, the reason people call me a Hero is probably that I killed a god.】

A strange vision unfolded before my eyes and engulfed my reality.

* * *

God.

An infinite being possessed of omniscience and omnipotence.

But the god was not benevolent toward humanity. It desired only chaos and destruction. One might therefore have dared call it a devil.

I survived countless brushes with death, again and again. And in the end, I cut down the god.

The god vanished. The people rejoiced. Peace was restored.

But I had a question.

... Why?

How had the god fallen by my hand?

A god's power is infinite.

Omniscience: knowing everything.

Omnipotence: being capable of anything.

How could an infinite being beyond imagination and comprehension meet its death at the hands of a finite being like me?

Death.

Did this concept surpass the god's infinite power? But could anything possibly surpass infinity?

Infinity.

Infinity is infinity. A state without limits, not merely something large, but something that keeps expanding and extending.

As such, comparing the sizes of two infinities always yields the same result: they are equal.

Suppose there is an [Infinite Tavern] with an infinite number of tables. What happens if an infinite number of guests visit that [Infinite Tavern]? Can it accommodate them all?

Yes. Because its number of tables is infinite.

Then let us halve that infinite number of tables. Can the [Infinite Tavern] still accommodate an infinite number of guests?

Yes. Because even after halving an infinite number of tables, their number remains infinite.

Then let us reduce the number of tables to 1/10. Can the [Infinite Tavern] still accommodate an infinite number of guests?

Yes. Because the number of tables is still infinite.

The same holds true if we reduce the tables to 1/1,000. Even at 1/10,000, their number is infinite. Going further, we can reduce their number to 1/10^8, 1/10^12, 1/10^16, 1/10^20, 1/10^24, 1/10^28, 1/10^32, 1/10^36, 1/10^40, 1/10^44, or 1/10^48, and the tables will still be infinite.

Because no matter what number we divide an infinite number of tables by, the result is still infinite.

That is the nature of infinity. Whatever the infinity, as long as it is infinite, its size must be infinite.

Thus, if death is infinite, then God and Death must be two infinities of equal, infinite size.

... But that was not the outcome.

The infinity of death surpassed the infinity of the god. The infinity of death as a concept engulfed the infinity of the being called a god.

The infinity of death... was larger.

Did that mean the logic of greater and lesser applied even to endlessly expanding infinities?

I did not believe it. I could not believe it.

Yet, astonishingly, I was able to prove that infinities could be compared in size.

The proof was simple.

Infinity + infinity = infinity.

Then what is infinity - infinity?

If all infinities must be equal in size, the answer should be zero. But it was not. The value was indeterminate. In other words, unknown.

When subtracting one infinity from another, the result varied depending on the properties of each infinity.

In other words, different infinities existed.

There existed an infinity greater than infinity.

... I began to wonder.

During my battle with the god, I had experienced distortions in time.

Within that distorted time, where a day passed like years or an instant felt like eternity, was the ending I had now reached truly the end? Or was it part of an infinitely repeating cycle?

Infinity and infinity.

If two endlessly expanding infinities can be compared in size, what is the infinity of the most absolute magnitude?

One thing was certain. The infinity of the god that had fallen by my hand was not the ultimate infinity.

And the fact that infinities could be compared in size might mean that some infinities were countable.

... But how could infinity be counted? Infinity was not a number, merely a state of endless expansion.

... I wanted to know.

The end of the concept called infinity.

The destination that existed within a concept with no end. The contradiction.

The truth of this world.

* * *

Adrian had abruptly begun chewing and swallowing the lump of flesh. Granted, it was now a monster that was literally a lump of flesh, but it had once been the human called Avarus.

"...!!"

Kai's face turned blue with utter revulsion. His brief willingness to trust and rely on Adrian shattered in an instant.

MUNCH, MUNCH.

Wouldn't it have been stranger if it hadn't shattered after seeing that? How could anyone even think of eating that grotesque lump of flesh? Kai could scarcely see Adrian as a fellow human.

But perhaps he'd developed a grudging fondness for him. Or perhaps he was simply used to it by now. Or perhaps Kai had gone mad alongside him.

'... He has always been like this.'

Little by little, he began to accept it with the explanation that this was simply who Adrian was.

In no time, Adrian had chewed up and swallowed the entire lump of flesh. How could all of that fit in his stomach after he'd spent 241 days eating without pause?

Just as Kai swallowed that question...

"Ugh!"

Adrian suddenly staggered. It must have tasted truly awful. Back in the Infinite Labyrinth, he'd had no trouble eating tentacles like "moldy scraps," with "broth made from boiled, foul-smelling swamp water" bursting into his mouth.

"Nngh...!"

How terrible did this have to taste to make even Adrian grimace like that?

Just as the thought crossed Kai's mind, Adrian suddenly dropped to his knees?

"Hah...! Hah...!"

He was panting harshly. At some point, his face had gone pale, his eyes wide with fear.

Those were not the eyes of someone suffering from the taste of the flesh. It was as though some unseen terror were tightening its grip on his mind.

"Lord Adrian?"

Kai called to him, but there was no answer.

"Are you all right?"

As he immediately approached, he saw that violet had overtaken Adrian's eyes.

A purple energy spread outward from their centers, completely engulfing his eyes. A deep, cold presence lingered within them, as though they held an infinite void and an endless abyss. Adrian was gradually losing consciousness.

It was like the way those symbols had consumed him in the Infinite Labyrinth.

... No, this was something far worse.

"Snap out of it!"

Kai grabbed Adrian and shook him violently, but it was no use.

Adrian's breathing grew shallower and shallower, faltering until it finally stopped. His eyes remained open, but there was no life left in them.

The hands clutching his head loosened and fell limply to the ground. His body collapsed as though every tendon had been severed.

On the cold ground, Adrian's body... no longer moved.

Kai's heart sank. It had all happened so suddenly. His mind couldn't keep up.

How much time had passed?

... He didn't know.

Every trace of color had drained from his face. Only his blue eyes kept darting from side to side—when, suddenly...

"Haaah...!!"

Adrian drew in a huge breath and began flopping like a fish hauled onto dry land.

* * *

◆Player's Will[EX] resists The Inexplicable Terror of the Unknown!

A translucent message flashed before my eyes. At that same moment, my mind was yanked out of the deep abyss that had consumed it.

"Haaah...!!"

Only then did my constricted airway open, allowing me to breathe. The darkness filling my vision cleared as though torn away. The vision that had engulfed my reality receded like a wave, and the madness, like a sea of abyssal depths, vanished in an instant.

But the terror, despair, and endless chaos that had ravaged my mind left me struggling to regain my senses.

"Kagh...!"

Blood with a metallic tang spilled from my mouth. An overwhelming weakness left me unable to muster any strength. Gasping for breath, I barely managed to pull myself together—

◆You have acquired the Concept Skill, 'Infinity[M]'!

The translucent message that appeared before my eyes once more jolted me to full awareness.