Ubermensch – Chapter 163

Chapter 163

“Did you all enjoy your brief moment of victory?”

The Destroyer sneered.

“Now, it’s time to despair, as usual!”

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

With dimensional travel blocked, there was no use in running.

Teshub moved Nymphassil at maximum speed. To escape the Destroyer’s sphere of influence and attempt dimensional travel.

However, dimensions were still fluctuating.

Only a force comparable to the Destroyer, not Nymphassil’s level, could suppress the fluctuating dimensions and open a dimensional gate.

Even if they fled to the edge of the universe, they couldn’t escape the Destroyer’s influence.

“Tsk…”

Mason watched the screen with an anxious expression.

The Destroyer’s forces were endless, and its malice was infinite.

The surging tide of destruction would chase them to the edge of the universe.

‘Is there no way?’

Mason’s face was filled with anxiety.

‘Is there really no way?’

Mason’s Champion and the Spirit Dragon were stronger than any individual entity in that army. However, they were ultimately individuals.

Just as one person couldn’t stop a million soldiers, they alone couldn’t stop the Destroyer’s infinite forces.

To make matters worse, Nymphassil’s escape speed gradually slowed.

“We’re caught in the gravitational pull!”

They were trapped by the gravity emanating from the Destroyer’s forces. Nymphassil desperately accelerated, but the drag force was exceeding the propulsion.

The Destroyer’s forces were getting closer.

Now they were close enough to be detected by radar…

“Damn it…”

The radar was glowing white without a single dot of empty space.

And finally, the Destroyer’s forces began to come into view.

As Nymphassil twisted and contorted, the Destroyer’s grasp began to reach out…

‘Is this the end?’

Mason gritted his teeth.

‘Is this really the end?’

That was the moment.

Crash!

Simultaneously with the shattering of dimensions, a giant arm smashed the Destroyer’s grasp.

Boom!

The Destroyer’s grasp, tens of thousands of Battlestars were destroyed, and the shockwave alone was enough to shake the entire universe, the entire Destroyer’s forces.

“Ugh!”

Naturally, Nymphassil was also tossed about like a leaf in a storm.

“What in the…!”

There was only one.

The one that could suppress the fluctuating dimensions and open a dimensional gate in the presence of the Destroyer.

And there was only one that could defeat the mighty Destroyer’s forces.

“Nodens!”

Nodens’ main body had intervened.

Beyond the shattered dimensions, like broken glass, Nodens’ bright eyes shone.

The Destroyer gritted its teeth.

“Nodens…!”

For a moment, there was silence between the two giants.

Mason tensed up.

‘Is a fight going to break out here? The final showdown between Nodens and the Destroyer?’

But that tension was short-lived.

“…I will retreat.”

The Destroyer was not yet a match for Nodens. The Destroyer slowly began to withdraw its forces.

Nodens slowly reached out and landed Nymphassil on its palm. Then it carefully closed its fist to prevent it from being crushed.

The next moment.

Nymphassil was back in Nodens’ dimension, Dreamland.

“Whew…”

Mason let out a sigh of relief and put on his communicator.

“Nodens.”

“Oztalon.”

Nodens’ avatar appeared beside Mason.

“We’re alive thanks to you. Thank you.”

“You’ve become a big shot, enough for the Destroyer to take notice. Be wary of traps targeting you.”

“I will.”

“Do you need any supplies or resources?”

Mason looked at Teshub, and Teshub shook her head.

“We appreciate the offer, but we can self-heal.”

“Alright. Don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.”

Mason deactivated the communicator.

“Is everyone alright?”

“Yes.”

“We barely escaped death…”

There was no doubt that Mason and his companions were on the level of gods.

It was just that the Destroyer and Nodens possessed power and authority on a completely different scale.

“We still have a long way to go…”

As Mason said with a wry smile, Teshub quietly spoke.

“I will initiate dimensional travel.”

“Why so soon? Don’t you want to regenerate a bit more?”

“It’s necessary.”

“Alright then.”

After leaving Dreamland, Teshub spoke in a calm voice.

“I don’t know much about Nodens. Do you trust him, Oztalon?”

“Yes.”

Mason calmly replied.

“He’s the only god fighting against the Destroyer.”

“Is that true?”

“You saw it yourself. He saved us from the Destroyer.”

“That’s why I’m asking.”

“…Huh?”

Teshub continued in a calm voice.

“If Nodens can defeat the Destroyer, why hasn’t he done so yet?”

“Well…”

Mason, who was about to retort reflexively, lost his words.

Nodens could defeat the Destroyer.

At least for now, he could.

But instead of actively confronting and fighting the Destroyer, Nodens was only taking passive actions, like helping the victims of the Destroyer’s destruction.

It might be shameless for Mason, a beneficiary of Nodens’ help, to criticize him, but…

‘…Why doesn’t Nodens step up and defeat the Destroyer himself?’

The Destroyer’s forces, when gathered in one place, could shake dimensions, making dimensional travel impossible for the weak.

But as he had seen himself, Nodens could enter dimensions where the Destroyer had descended.

Long ago, Nodens had said that he couldn’t directly intervene because it could damage the dimensions.

But the Destroyer was literally destroying dimensions, wasn’t it?

The dimensions where the Destroyer descended were already destined to be destroyed. Then, what reason was there for Nodens not to descend and fight as well?

Countless questions flashed through his mind, but they were ultimately summarized in two sentences.

Nodens could kill the Destroyer.

But he didn’t kill the Destroyer.

That fact confused Mason.

‘What is Nodens thinking?’

The fact that Nodens might have other thoughts.

๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑๑ஓ๑

Bang!

The Destroyer smashed everything within reach.

“Nodens, damn Nodens!”

The Destroyer had no choice but to be wary of Nodens. The reason why it couldn’t deploy its main fleet and could only send small detachments was because of Nodens.

“What is he thinking?”

Nodens could descend and fight the Destroyer at any time. That was why the Destroyer kept its main fleet close by.

But Nodens hadn’t shown any reaction so far.

As if waiting. No, as if encouraging…

But that very Nodens had suddenly appeared and interfered with the Destroyer.

It was the first time the Destroyer had experienced this.

Him personally intervening.

‘He was playing with me.’

That was the conclusion the Destroyer reached about Nodens.

Nodens was waiting for the Destroyer. Waiting for it to become an existence comparable to himself. To gain the power to defeat him.

The Destroyer had been destroying and multiplying.

Under Nodens’ tacit consent.

However, the Destroyer hadn’t moved its main fleet away from its side.

Because it was only a tacit agreement.

One that could be broken anytime, somehow.

“What’s changed?”

He hadn’t lifted a finger while it was massacring billions of lives, but now he was personally intervening to stop it from eliminating Oztalon?

That was outside the Destroyer’s expectations.

“What exactly changed to make Nodens personally intervene?”

Only one thing had changed.

“Is it because of Oztalon?”

The problem was, how had Oztalon changed Nodens, and in what way?

‘If I hadn’t retreated when we confronted each other, would Nodens have actually fought me?’

Before analyzing data, the Destroyer understood Nodens’ heart.

Because it was also lonely.

The task it had to accomplish, the purification of the entire universe, was something only it understood and carried out.

It could understand the loneliness Nodens felt, and the sense of connection he might have felt upon encountering an enemy like himself.

However, the current Nodens was not the Nodens the Destroyer understood.

“…A new opponent.”

The Destroyer realized instinctively.

The Destroyer was Nodens’ one and only enemy.

Nodens needed his one and only rival, the Destroyer, more than the countless subordinates and infinite believers who served him.

The fact that he no longer needed him… meant that he had found a new opponent.

“If I fall, he intends to play with Oztalon.”

As long as Oztalon existed, Nodens could kill the Destroyer.

Then, Oztalon became more than just an obstacle.

‘I have to hunt down Oztalon first. Only then can I defeat Nodens.’

The Destroyer’s murky eyes gleamed ominously.

‘For me to defeat Nodens, I have to remain his one and only rival.’

The fundamental premise of the war was changing.

And as a result, the tide of war was changing.

Then, strategies and tactics also had to change.

“Laughing God!”

“Gather data on Oztalon.”

The Destroyer growled.

“Data on how to destroy him!”

The Laughing God grumbled.

The Destroyer gazed at the universe.

“Just you wait, Nodens.”

At the infinite worlds he had to purify and harvest.

“The destruction of your precious Oztalon!”