God-Tier Enhancement: My Upgrades Never Fail-Chapter 249: Episode _Thug of Light and Darkness (6)

9.

Aria and Grokile’s quarrel had started small, but in less than ten seconds, it had escalated into something colossal.

The gazes of the millions gathered on the battlefield all turned toward the two of them.

It was inevitable.

With every single exchange, the ground shook, lightning crashed from the sky, and thousands died at a time. How could anyone not pay attention?

Failing to watch the flashes in the distance—far beyond your immediate line of sight—could get you killed, no matter how well you dodged the attack right in front of you. No one could possibly focus on their own fight.

As a result, the battlefield had effectively entered a temporary ceasefire, even though the Sanctuary had vanished at some point, turning the situation in the black mages’ favor.

In truth, it was more accurate to say that even if they wanted to fight, they couldn’t.

They were just like the mid- and low-rank demons and the special forces unit who had once stood proudly at Grokile and Aria’s side, only to flee far away to save their own lives.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

BOOM!

It was no exaggeration: the ground was literally splitting, earthquakes were shaking the land, and lightning was falling from the sky.

The demon and the Celestial were unleashing every ounce of power they could muster.

With their restrictions gone, it was more than worthy of being called overpowered.

The broadcast chat was going wild.

—What the hell.

—What is this scene that just shattered all that carefully built tension?

—Was everything up to now just one big setup to show that the previous fights were child’s play?

—Whoever directed this, they suck.

—No, it doesn’t suck. It’s insanely flashy.

—For real, you couldn’t pull this off with CGI.

—Wow. But is that Celestial really not wearing anything under that black robe? I swear I saw something through the tear...

—??? That’s what you’re looking for right now?

—You should look too. It’s magnificent.

It was true that the real war had not even begun yet.

The elite troops were still with the black mages and the Continental Army in the rear.

But this showdown between final bosses blew right past all that tension!

It felt a bit like the air was leaking out of a balloon, yet at the same time, hearts were pounding.

—Screw buildup and narrative arcs. It’s great that they’re not dragging it out and just fighting.

—Yeah, if this were a movie, they’d be babbling about “establishing tension” and shove in some contrived crisis, but this is like a reality show where the movie itself doesn’t know who the protagonist is, so they’re just shutting up and letting them fight lol.

—I was personally rooting for the black mages, but after seeing that angel, I kinda want the Continental Army to win.

—Same. Also, please rip that angel’s clothes a bit more.

But the users didn’t know the truth.

—By the way, why did those two suddenly start fighting?

—What, isn’t it like a duel or something?

—Feels like they agreed that whoever wins the one-on-one wins the whole thing.

—What kind of bullshit is that? The Continental Army’s livelihoods are on the line here.

They did not know that the fight between the two was purely driven by personal grudges.

Nor that there was someone behind them who had orchestrated the whole thing.

—But I don’t see Simin?

—Yeah, the Saintess is right there, so where did he go?

—Whenever that guy disappears, he’s always up to something. Is this his doing too?

—You’re overthinking it. What is he, some shadow ruler controlling monsters like that from behind the scenes? If he could do that, why would he bust his ass playing the game? He’d just make some money and coast.

While everyone’s eyes were fixed on the duel, Han Simin was busier than anyone, moving nonstop.

*

“Haah. Haah. It’s cold.”

“Simin! Over here!”

They were in a forest not far from the battlefield.

Deep within the woods behind the battlefield’s wide plain, far in the black mages’ rear, countless black mages were gathered.

It was a truly massive number.

The fact that so many had been pulled out at such a critical moment was more than enough to arouse suspicion, yet the black mages had taken the risk and gathered here.

Fortunately, they hadn’t been discovered.

If they had, the Continental Army wouldn’t have just stood there blankly watching the Celestial and demon fight.

They would have launched an all-out assault.

After all, this was effectively the same as having more than thirty percent of the enemy’s fighting force removed.

Even if they took some losses, a push now would guarantee victory.

Despite that risk, the black mages had gathered to create a massive magic circle.

A gigantic magic circle made of black mages!

The medium was the black mages themselves and their dark magic.

Because the circle wouldn’t activate if even a single person slipped up, they were more cautious than ever.

Each and every one of them had to be in the exact right position and could not move.

Hundreds of them formed the core of the circle, while the remaining black mages supported it from the outside with their dark magic.

That was how large-scale it was.

Large-scale, and at the same time, a ridiculous money sink.

“This is it?”

“Yeah.”

At the very center of the magic circle, a gem as tall as a person was embedded in the ground.

The pitch-black jewel, which looked as if it could swallow everything, was the same type of Demon World stone as the one set in the ring Han Simin wore as a wedding band.

The ring’s description said it had been made by gathering every Demon World gem on the continent, yet here was an even bigger one.

Anyone else might have felt cheated, but Han Simin didn’t care.

“Wow. How did they manage to stash something like this?”

“They say the demons left it behind during the previous continental invasion. Told them to use it next time.”

“Can’t we just grab this and run?”

“...If we could get out of here, we’d want to help you too. Simin, isn’t there any way?”

Even in simple monetary terms, it was impossible to put a price on it.

One had to wonder if there was even anyone on the continent who could afford to buy a gem so steeped in darkness.

But the real problem was getting it past thousands of black mages.

If they could pull that off, it wouldn’t be a bad choice for Specialist to abandon her current position and betray them.

Considering Han Simin’s reputation and silver tongue, as long as he had the goods, he would have no problem selling them for full price anywhere.

They could grab a huge payout and walk away from the game. Sure, they might feel a bit of lingering regret, but no real remorse.

Right now, Fantastic World was the biggest thing, and it felt like this game would last forever. But if they made enough money from this, they could just roll a new account, kick back, and wait for the next game to come out.

But there was no way.

Forget thousands; the black mages positioned at the core of the magic circle were the elite of the elite, even within the cult.

The reason black mages bowed and scraped before upper-rank demons was because they were strong and on their side. If the mages truly set their minds to it, they had enough firepower that subduing a single demon was not out of the question.

So Han Simin gave up on the idea.

If he got greedy over something he couldn’t have, he would end up missing out on the profit he could have secured and walk away empty-handed.

“Tch.”

It was a shame, but there was nothing to be done. Time to do his job.

“Start.”

“Okay.”

The decision had been made, and that was why he was here.

Vrrrr—

At his command, dark magic began to vibrate.

The magic circle shook violently, but even as it trembled, the black mages held their positions steadfastly.

The combined dark magic of thousands of black mages!

All of it was sucked toward the center of the magic circle at once.

It wasn’t because someone was controlling it.

There was no way every black mage could coordinate their dark magic so perfectly in unison.

If you gathered the dark magic of even three people, you wouldn’t be able to tell whose was whose, and given its rough nature, there was no telling where it might lash out.

This was all the power of the pitch-black jewel.

Naturally, Han Simin, standing right in front of the gem, could not avoid being affected.

“Damn. This is insane.”

[You are being exposed to Dark Magic.]

[Your Defense is reduced.]

[Your HP Recovery is decreased.]

All sorts of holograms popped up.

Thankfully, his HP wasn’t actually decreasing, but the sheer amount of dark magic would have killed anyone with divine power long ago.

In the storm of dark magic that made it hard to even stay upright, Han Simin calmly pulled out his hammer.

“Phew.”

Even when he had enhanced the Sanctuary to +15, Simin had only thought of it as a way to earn some pocket money. But now, for the first time in a while, he wore a serious expression as he steadied his breathing.

The tension that seeped into his body was almost like when he had enhanced the Ring of Blessing to +15.

That was how important this was.

With a single swing of his hammer, the fate of the continent could change.

With a single swing, the difficulty of all future quests could rise across the board.

How thrilling and exciting was that?

He was getting paid for all of it, but for once, Han Simin felt a sense of fulfillment and responsibility.

This was different from the professional ethics that came from being paid.

How to put it?

It felt like he was steering the game with his own hands.

It was similar to the feeling he’d had back in the days of PC online games, when he had succeeded at an enhancement no one else on the server had ever pulled off, then decked himself out head to toe in those items and monopolized the entire server.

Back then, he had gotten bored after doing it once or twice, but this was Fantastic World.

There was no way to get sick of it.

It was another world entirely.

If people didn’t like the world he shaped, they could just quit the game, but in reality, very few would actually leave.

And even if he did twist things this way, the game itself wouldn’t collapse.

The game felt too real for that.

Its self-correcting mechanisms would kick in.

What he could do was no more than fiddle with the faucet on the flow of fate.

“Here we go.”

That alone was enough.

He was just one individual.

For a single person, that level of authority was more than enough to divert at least one of the massive streams of money flowing through this grand stage straight into his own wallet.

BANG! BANG!

The hammer blows that would go down in history began to fall.

Whatever the legendary Legend Enhancer in hell might think, weeping as he watched, was none of Han Simin’s concern.

*

The first to sense something was off was, of course, the strongest upper-rank Celestial, Aria.

“...Huh?”

At first, she thought she was mistaken.

After all, Grokile was right in front of her, drawing out dark magic in torrents.

She assumed it was the waves coming off him.

But she was wrong.

The fight had been so intense that she hadn’t noticed the movement of dark magic for over ten minutes—something she would normally have sensed immediately.

If she hadn’t been a Celestial of her caliber, she might never have noticed it at all.

That was how faint it was, no more than a slight, tickling irritation at the edge of her awareness.

It felt like something she could ignore in favor of focusing on the fight before her, which could very well end in her annihilation.

But she didn’t ignore it, and in the end, she became certain.

“Damn it!”

“Hmph! So you finally noticed.”

“No way...!”

“Yes. It is already too late. The magic circle has been activated, and you failed to defeat me. In five minutes—in five minutes, the magic circle will be complete. Do you think you can break through me, then through the black mages, and destroy the circle in that time? Kuhahahahaha!”

Aria clenched her fists.

She had confirmed it, but nothing had changed.

Grokile was still standing strong, and her confidence that she could win had merely turned into doubt about whether she could do it in time.

Despair spread across her face.

But she did not give up.

Vrrrr—

Instead, an even greater divine power wrapped around her entire body.

Divine power so intense it burned away her black robe!

Seeing that, Grokile freaked out.

“Hey! You crazy—are you really going to self-destruct...?”

“Get out of my way!”

As divine power exploded outward, Grokile instinctively dodged to the side.

Not even thirty seconds after he had declared he would stand firm and block her, Aria vaulted past Grokile and charged toward the forest.

Realizing his mistake, Grokile hurried after her.

“Hey! Even if you get there, you can’t stop it! Hey, you! Who the hell is over there?!”

His frantic shout, unfortunately, did not reach her.

*