[Proofreader - Gun]
“What in the world is...”
His mind momentarily went blank at this unimaginable variable.
Because it was the first time an object or living creature trapped inside a subspace had ever popped out on its own.
He had never heard of a situation like this even from his master, Ado Valel.
“Kugh.”
“Hey, are you alright?”
At Oscar's concern, the Commander barely managed to raise his hand.
However, his trembling hand only reaffirmed that his condition was far from normal.
“Damn, it.”
“What exactly happened? Why did you come out?”
“...I didn't come out because I wanted to.”
Bzzzt, bzz-bzzzt.
The face of the Commander, who answered with difficulty, was a mess as well.
As if the cognition-hindering artifact that usually covered his face had broken, his face blurred and then changed into the face of a complete stranger, shifting multiple times a second.
“That guy's demonic energy is, pulling me.”
Oscar instantly realized who the ‘guy’ he mentioned was.
‘Could it be... the demonic energy of the 2nd Great Emperor is pulling him?’
Of course, he knew that there was a kind of binding force in the mysterious power of the two demon brothers.
Because it was said that if one died, that power would be absorbed by the other.
‘But I didn't know that power would affect even the inside of a subspace.’
Frowning, Oscar's mind grew dizzy.
At this moment, the picture he had drawn was completely torn apart.
At the same time, the difficulty of the operation skyrocketed to an absurd degree.
Because from now on, it meant he had to escape the inescapable net while bringing the Commander along.
“Kugh.”
The Commander clutched his chest.
Dark red veins bulged and subsided repeatedly on the back of his hand.
Watching this, Oscar muttered.
“It'll be tough to go back in.”
“I'll be honest. Right now... just suppressing the power is overwhelming.”
In other words, he was out of their combat power.
Before Oscar could even sort out the dizzying situation.
“Ha, haha! Hahahaha!”
Suddenly, the sound of laughter was heard.
“Haha, wait, hold on a second. What is all this?”
The men who were surrounding him from all sides clutched their foreheads.
They looked this way—or more precisely, at the Commander—and let out scoffs of disbelief.
“You put a person in a subspace?”
“Right, come to think of it, it was obvious. With the Commander declared a public enemy of the continent, it's strange that there's someone trying to save him, isn't it?”
The man's gaze lingered on his face.
“But if it's you, it's a different story. Oscar Crucian.”
He was a quick-witted guy.
Then again, the moment he witnessed the subspace, he would have had no choice but to specify his identity anyway.
“Come to think of it, didn't you visit with the Heavenly Sword during the last Great Summoning? I wasn't there... but seeing as the Commander was fine, there must have been some kind of deal.”
Nodding his head, the corners of the man's mouth curled up in a sneer.
“This makes me a bit curious, you know? Just what kind of deal did you make back then that you'd risk your life even in this situation?”
“...You have a lot of curiosity. In my experience, guys like that die early.”
“Uwahahaha!”
A total of four men grabbed their bellies and laughed.
“You're very confident. Do you really think you can beat me?”
“If I came to hunt the Commander all by myself, you should have a feeling of how good my skills are, right?”
“You might just be a guy with pure overconfidence. Lacking self-objectification.”
“Kekek, then why don't you ask the Commander next to you?”
As he tilted his chin, the Commander took a short breath and said.
“...He's not just a guy who bluffs. He's one of the few members in the Brigade who operates solo.”
“You heard him, right?”
The men spread their arms and smiled brightly.
“Our Commander tends to be stingy with praise, so this is a pretty generous evaluation.”
Oscar ignored those words and asked.
“His ability?”
“Exactly as it looks. Summoning multiple versions of himself.”
The Commander's gaze turned toward the men surrounding them.
“Every single one of them is real, with physical substance.”
“Are they clones imitating the main body?”
“No, if you fight thinking that, you'll die.”
The Commander's gaze shifted slowly, like flowing water.
The same face, the same physique, the same expression.
“That bastard liked learning this and that. He wielded a sword, learned magic, and even handled a bow and a gun.”
“So he was versatile.”
“He had talent in many fields, but he couldn't settle on any single one. Because he was greedy.”
Oscar once again observed the surrounding men.
The bow and shotgun slung over their backs, the gun at their waists, the scabbards at their waists, up to the artifacts wrapped all over their bodies.
“...Which means he actually uses all of those.”
“Yes. Those are the incarnations of the possibilities he couldn't reach because he gave up.”
The self that never let go of the sword until the end.
The self that delved only into magic.
The self that explored guns and devoted only to the bow, and so on.
“If you choose one, you have to give up the rest. Time is limited and you only have one body.”
But the man before their eyes rejected that basic common sense.
What would it have been like if he had polished just one talent to the very end?
The ultimate world created by that curiosity and longing.
“That is Julian Bern's world, 『All Mine』.”
“Thanks for the kind explanation!”
Click!
The Julian on the right pulled out the shotgun from behind his back.
“Since they said I could take you back dead, why don't you give some pocket money to your former subordinate. Commander.”
The muzzle was aimed at the Commander's head.
The moment Oscar urgently deployed a protective shield, Baaaaang!
A deafening roar erupted.
Pababak!
The buckshot that struck the wind barrier scattered in all directions.
“Kugh!”
A destructive power strong enough to effortlessly pierce through several layers of shields.
‘Still, I blocked it for now.’
The moment a sense of relief brushed through his mind, the Julian in the back drew his sword and rushed in.
“Interferers should back off!”
Swoooosh!
The blade flew in, aiming precisely for his neck.
Oscar planted his spear shaft diagonally and blocked it.
Clang!
‘It's heavy.’
From the shock transmitted through the spear shaft, his entire body tingled as if electrocuted.
The Julian locking swords with him grinned.
“Heavy, right? But even so...”
“You shouldn't look away!”
As the Julian in the front chanted a spell, vines sprang up from beneath his feet and wrapped around his entire body.
His movements were blocked in an instant.
At the same time, the Julian who had stepped back released the tightly drawn bowstring.
“...Got you.”
The moment that murmur scattered into the sound of the arrow.
『Spatial Slash』
A spatial blade created in midair cleaved the incoming arrow in half.
Simultaneously, the exact same blades formed above the heads of the Julians.
“...Huh?”
“What is—”
Slaaash!
With a butchering sound, an arm tumbled across the snowy field.
It was the arm of the guy wielding the gun.
“Kuaaaagh!”
“You couldn't dodge this? How stupid.”
“Hah, I understand him though. Even getting hit by it is baffling.”
The Knight Julian, who had rolled on the ground to escape the spot, let out a hollow laugh.
“Firing off such instant-death magic without any warning, you aren't just on the level of a simple prospect, are you?”
“...I think we might have to change our priorities a bit.”
[Proofreader - Gun]
“It'd be better to just throw checks at the Commander's side and kill this guy first.”
The eyes of the Julians, having finished their strategy meeting, changed.
At the same time, Oscar had also finished his analysis of them.
‘I unleashed the Spatial Slash with the intention to kill all four of them... yet all four avoided fatal injuries.’
Shockingly, none of them were below Level 6.
In other words, it meant all four of them were on par with Level 7.
‘They all look exactly the same, but I've already specified their classes.’
They were the Knight, the Mage, the Gunslinger, and the Archer Julian, respectively.
Oscar whispered to the Commander.
“Is that the maximum number the guy can handle?”
“Probably. This is my first time seeing four of them today as well.”
“If so...”
Wind Cutters floated up softly behind Oscar.
Slaaash! Chwaaak!
Cutting away the vines binding his body in a single breath, Oscar threw away the spear he was holding.
Because there was no longer any need to play the role of a spearman.
‘Since my identity has been found out anyway... I can't let them go alive.’
Oscar, whose eyes grew a shade colder, quickly scanned his surroundings.
The Julians encircling the two were slowly walking in a circle.
‘Every world has its flaws.’
Especially in a world like ‘All Mine’ that only seems to show advantages, the flaw is distinct.
For now, finding out what that flaw was became the utmost priority.
Normally, it would be right for this side to also liberate his world to match their weight class.
‘But if I liberate the world...’
The red moon, still vivid in his memory, came to mind.
There was no guarantee that the ominous phenomenon Itaca had eliminated for him last time wouldn't reappear.
Above all, currently, Itaca was in a state where just suppressing the Great Emperor was overwhelming.
‘...Besides, this pursuit is highly likely to become a protracted war.’
In such a situation, it was best to avoid a world liberation that ignorantly consumed mana if possible.
Reaching that point in his thoughts, Oscar neatly folded the move known as world liberation.
‘It can't be helped. I'll save world liberation as a last resort.’
At that moment.
“What's taking you so long to think! You son of a bitch!”
Bang! Baaang!
With the sound of gunshots, the pistol of the Julian who had lost an arm spat out fire.
『Wind Shield』
Drrrrk.
The wind barrier set at an angle deflected the bullets to the side.
At the same time, a gust of wind blew and snapped the incoming arrow flying overhead.
“You're good at blocking long-range attacks, I see!”
The Knight's sword dug in.
Glancing at it, Oscar compressed the wind and created ten Wind Blades.
Claaang!
The first blade blocked the Knight's attack, and following that, the second and third blades flew in, aiming for the Knight's neck and heart.
“Kugh!”
Frowning at the incredibly precise control of the blades, the Knight deflected them.
Oscar turned his head away after confirming that sight.
‘That's enough to tie up his feet over there...’
The remaining seven blades shot out in all directions and attacked the Julians.
Swooooosh!
Three blades went toward the Mage.
The rest flew toward the Archer and the Gunslinger, two blades each.
“Kugh! Shield!”
The Mage Julian deployed a protective barrier while dodging the incoming blades, but.
Clang! Craaash!
The three blades hammered the barrier relentlessly, and eventually tore it apart.
“Damn it!”
Under the frantic barrage of attacks, the Mage contorted his face.
But he had managed to block the attack for now.
‘Now, if I deploy a new barrier before those fly in again...’
At that moment.
“Uh, huh?”
The Archer Julian let out a bewildered sound, but the Mage ignored it.
‘I don't have the luxury to care about another entity in this situation.’
Because he was busy enough dealing with the three blades in front of his own eyes.
Therefore, he couldn't have known.
The fact that one of the blades that had been targeting the Archer until now had changed direction and was shooting straight for the back of his own head.
Swooooosh!
“Mage! Watch your ba...!”
Slaaash!
Before the warning even ended, the blade sliced past the Mage's neck.
As the headless body collapsed, Oscar muttered.
“Dodge them properly on your own. My swords don't have eyes.”
Tak, tadak!
His ten fingers moved restlessly, as if playing the piano.
Each time, the Wind Blades changed not only their trajectories but also their targets, attacking the enemies.
“...Crazy.”
For the first time, a voice devoid of laughter spilled from the Knight's mouth.
Actually, deflecting the incoming blades in itself was not difficult.
The problem was the structure.
Because it was impossible to know when a blade aiming for another Julian would aim for him.
‘Unlike the enemy who controls the entire battlefield alone, we think and move individually.’
That freedom was usually a powerful weapon.
But in a situation like this, a gap in thought was bound to inevitably occur.
And the opponent was targeting that very spot like a ghost.
‘Don't tell me, this was all part of the enemy's intention?’
The moment the Knight gulped down his saliva.
The Julians started shouting.
“Spread apart! We have to increase the travel distance between the blades!”
“What bullshit is that! We have to stick together instead! We must completely eliminate our blind spots!”
For the first time, opinions were divided, and Oscar didn't miss that confusion.
One of his fingers bent slightly downward.
Swooooosh!
At the same time, the two blades dealing with the Gunslinger rapidly descended and aimed solely for his ankles.
“Kugh! You loach-like things!”
Bang! Baaang!
The moment the Gunslinger urgently looked at the ground and pulled the trigger.
A blade that had been freed upon the Mage's death fell toward the crown of his head.
Craaack!
“Guh, gurgk.”
Cleanly pierced from his skull to his spine, the Gunslinger's body twitched slightly.
Seeing his death, the Knight's pupils dilated, and tension began to grip his entire body.
Similarly, the mana flowing through his sword blade also exploded in volume.
“Damn it! Stop wasting mana!”
Seeing the Archer Julian shout, Oscar's eyes sparkled.
Because the moment the Knight's mana surged, the mana concentrated on the Archer's arrow had noticeably faded.
‘Those guys don't share their thoughts.’
They judge individually, and react individually.
And just now, he learned one more fact.
‘They all share a single pool of mana.’
Now that he had perfectly grasped the world's flaw, variables no longer existed in this battle.
Less than five minutes had passed since then.
Down to the very last Julian, they laid their bodies in the cold snow.
[Proofreader - Gun]

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