Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 217

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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217. Hall of Winners (2)
“Don’t you think so too?”
The moment the Child-Shaped God spoke with a smirk, time began flowing backward.
Previous Previous Master’s lips moved in reverse, and the spells that had flown away returned.
I was no exception. My body moved against my will.
The sword embedded in Previous Previous Master’s chest was pulled out. My position reverted to before I used Leap. Back, back—time flowed in reverse.
“….”
After the Martial Artist appeared before me, Previous Previous Master’s expression of shock brushed past once more.
And finally, we returned to the moment we first entered the Gate.
As time rewound, I caught sight of Previous Previous Master’s face—deep in contemplation.
It seemed he had wrestled with many thoughts about whether this was real or not.
“Hmm.”
In the frozen world, only the Child-Shaped God could move. He hummed softly while gesturing with his hands toward Previous Previous Master.
I confirmed that control of my body had returned.
Out of habit, I turned my head toward my guild members, but they were all frozen. It seemed only I could move. Chun-bae didn’t respond either.
“You….”
Despite the bewildering situation, I had quite a few questions for this god. But my words caught in my throat.
I had no idea where to even begin.
“What do you want?”
In the end, I asked the question I’d wanted to ask since meeting this creature.
“What I want? Well, I’m not entirely sure myself.”
The god smiled, but his eyes didn’t. They gazed at me with cold clarity.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s fun.”
“What was the gift?”
“A gift, just as the word implies.”
My rapid-fire questions yielded little of substance. The god flowed past them like water.
“What is mana erosion?”
“Mana erosion is mana erosion.”
Frustration washed over me. I exhaled a deep sigh.
“Did it happen this time because the gaze of erosion turned back?”
“You could say it’s similar. There was also a small error in the Gate.”
The god described Previous Previous Master’s actions as an error. Objectively, I agreed to some extent.
It was disheartening, but it wasn’t something that should have happened inside the Gate.
“What are you?”
“Me? I thought I’d given you a clue.”
A clue? This creature gave me a clue? That couldn’t be right. Nothing came to mind.
The god shrugged.
“Anyway, let’s try the Hall of Winners again. I’m curious about the result too.”
“Wait.”
Still, there were points I needed to address before moving forward. Even if the Previous Previous Master’s actions were an error, I couldn’t simply let it slide.
I hadn’t received a proper answer, and I couldn’t let this matter flow away like water.
“Why?”
The mischievous child laughed with a grin.
“We can’t just proceed like this. It’s not our fault that an error occurred in the Gate, is it?”
“Are you asking for compensation? Like last time?”
“I’m not asking for it. Shouldn’t it naturally be provided?”
The God pondered my words for a moment, then nodded.
“I’ll grant that. That one was excessively sharp, but since we designed it, it’s our responsibility.”
The God extended a single finger toward me.
“Instead, you can take it when you subjugate the Gate. That’s my final offer.”
I wanted to say it should be given right now, but the weight behind the God’s words—”final offer”—carried considerable gravity.
“Fine.”
As I nodded, the God gazed at the sky for a moment. What was that? I felt like I’d seen similar behavior before. It seemed as though waiting for something.
“Did I ask what you wanted earlier?”
And the tone of voice changed.
“Perhaps our intentions might align.”
Then came that grin again.
“Or perhaps not.”
Our intentions align?
There was no time to think deeply. The God continued.
“Your companions won’t remember. I’ve rewound time to when you entered.”
“What about me?”
“You’re the exception. Shouldn’t at least one person know about this error?”
And as the God vanished, time began flowing again. The message resumed as well.
-Defeat those who previously won in the Hall of Winners.
The situation unfolded as if I were entering the Gate for the first time.
-Combat will begin in 10 seconds.
* * *
Whoooosh—!
I responded identically to before. The moment my body could move, I opened the Subspace and summoned the Red Dragon.
“Krraaagh!”
The difference from before was that the Previous Previous Master’s group didn’t converse upon seeing the Subspace or the Red Dragon.
With eyes that seemed somewhat lifeless, they simply advanced forward. Without dialogue, the battle progressed slightly faster than before.
“According to plan!”
There was no time to explain what had happened before. I moved forward alongside Kim Han-chul.
The enemies were identical to before. The Sword Guardian and the Martial Artist. I faced them the same way.
This time too, I used the movements of the Cockfighting technique, but the Martial Artist showed no reaction whatsoever.
It was somewhat mechanical, perhaps. Yet the attacks remained just as fierce as before.
‘It’s the same up to this point.’
The battle unfolded in familiar patterns. I surveyed the Previous Previous Master through my spatial awareness. The Dark Elf Thief remained motionless.
But that wasn’t the only change. The Previous Previous Master’s magic began targeting me and my companions.
‘So that’s why the Previous Previous Master sent the Thief earlier.’
To draw me in while striking at my allies from behind. Now, instead, they were unleashing magic.
The spells weren’t particularly strong. The same applied to their vanguard.
Sharp, certainly, but the movements felt more like probing than all-out assault. I felt a sense of déjà vu.
Because I’d experienced this recently.
‘They’re moving like Saebyeokbit.’
The firepower and sharpness of the Previous Previous Master’s magic, as well as the movements of the Sword Guardian and Martial Artist, grew incrementally more refined.
It was the kind of probing movement. I issued a warning.
“Be careful! They’re going to come at us like a storm all at once!”
There’s only one reason for probing. To gauge what level of response the opponent can manage and what capabilities they possess.
They’re assessing how to suppress us while concealing their own cards. Once they’ve made their judgment, they’ll come crashing down.
Of course, the Dragon Guild was doing the same. They were tense because the opponent was particularly strong, but they were probing just the same.
Just as I continued observing the enemy’s rear guard, they would pierce through any opening like a flash of light.
—Boom!
Choi Chul-gi began accelerating as well. The vanguards were at a stalemate. Though Kim Han-chul and I focused on defense, we weren’t being pushed back.
However, Seo Min-jae was losing ground in the rear. Even as a mage, the opponent was a renowned spellcaster from before their awakening.
Dragon Scale Piercing Spear provided support to Seo Min-jae. It was help that applied even slight pressure to the enemy’s rear guard.
Seo Min-jae caught his breath.
“Thank you, hyung!”
“Focus on your magic.”
By prioritizing casting speed to intercept the opponent’s spells, we were holding our ground, but we were definitely being pushed back.
Now with Dragon Scale Piercing Spear added, the rear guard battle had become evenly matched, but the opponent still had the Dark Elf Thief.
‘Move. Move.’
I pushed from defense into offense. Though my martial arts rank was inferior, I overwhelmed through stat advantage.
I was only losing in pure martial technique, but I had many other cards besides that.
I defended with Imperial Basic Swordsmanship, then counterattacked aggressively with Crescent Moon Swordsmanship.
The Martial Artist stepped back two paces against the superior speed and power.
“Ugh!”
With the front line in such a precarious state, the Thief would surely move. That was exactly the moment I was waiting for.
However, the Dark Elf Thief didn’t move easily.
“Divine protection—!”
The enemy Healer cast buffs and healing on the Martial Artist, and the Previous Previous Master simply increased the speed of their magic further.
So far, so good. The war of attrition favored the Dragon Guild.
As a Healer, Lee Shin-hee’s abilities were superior. Of course, that came with the condition that we didn’t sustain fatal wounds.
The Dragon Guild’s somewhat defensive stance was for that reason.
“Fire! Fire!”
The variable was the Previous Previous Princess. Magic came relentlessly. Choi Chul-gi was helping, but there were limits to what Seo Min-jae could block.
The Previous Previous Master wasn’t simply firing off magic—they were also employing illusions.
The strategy was to drain Seo Min-jae’s mana reserves. While I could discern a few illusions with concentration, there was a fundamental problem.
Seo Min-jae, who had learned magic through awakening and received elemental instruction from Chun-bae, couldn’t block everything they threw at him.
‘Min-jae is being pushed back harder than I anticipated.’
It was time to adjust the plan.
‘Do I pray that their Healer collapses before Min-jae, or do I introduce a variable myself?’
I deliberated.
Though I held the advantage in this war of attrition, a critical wound from their cunning move would be dangerous. And wasn’t the magic clearly overwhelming us?
In the end, I made my decision.
Their team demonstrated superior coordination compared to the Dragon Guild. Therefore, I had to create a variable first.
* * *
Waiting carried risk for us. The disadvantage in magic was significant. We could collapse while waiting for attrition.
Wasn’t magic already raining down on Han Chul and me right now?
-Clang! Clang!
“Ugh!”
Even Han Chul, focused entirely on defense, began to bleed as the Previous Previous Master’s magic struck him.
An opponent with S-rank swordsmanship. No matter how skilled a Guardian was, blocking every attack was impossible.
There were moments when Han Chul advanced despite taking wounds to maintain the front line.
Lee Shin-hee chanted healing spells without pause, yet an accident could happen at any moment.
-Whoosh!
My situation was similar. I’d pushed back aggressively, but now the Previous Previous Master’s magic had leveled it to fifty-fifty again.
Having to account for incoming spells prevented me from attacking more aggressively.
I blocked the Martial Artist’s fist and thought hard. The real question was how to introduce a variable.
Two methods came to mind immediately.
Kill the Martial Artist outright, or target their backline. But neither felt right.
I hadn’t targeted the backline yet, but Chun-bae said he had a countermeasure against the Previous Previous Master.
‘That’s why two frontliners came forward.’
Earlier, the Rogue had vacated his position to use Leap backward. It was to reposition him.
The Previous Previous Master was just shocked at being stabbed by the sword. Targeting the backline was best avoided.
That left eliminating the Martial Artist first, but this didn’t seem easy either.
I could overwhelm him with strength and speed, but breaking through seemed difficult. His instincts were remarkably sharp.
“Hup! Ha!”
He deflected my attacks while releasing strange battle cries. Truly worthy of being called the master of the fighting world.
Now I was on offense and he on defense, yet finding a breakthrough seemed impossible.
-Whoosh!
A rough sound of displaced air as his fist came in. This was why I couldn’t think deeply.
The Martial Artist, even when cornered defensively, would immediately counterattack if I showed an opening.
-Boom!
Perhaps because his profession fought barehanded, he was exceptionally sensitive to openings. Whenever I tried to block his fist with Subspace, he’d instantly release the force.
I deflected his fist and countered with a spinning kick using the Martial Artist’s own momentum. My strength and speed were superior.
The Martial Artist blocked with his arm but was pushed back slightly. Then, the Sword Guardian came into view.
That’s when inspiration struck me.
‘Wait a moment.’
We still had hidden cards up our sleeves. My Leap and Scorching Blaze, Catastrophic Release, and Chul-gi’s fully charged Dragon Piercing Spear were among them.
Originally, I’d planned to use them in response to the enemies’ moves or based on our individual judgment.
‘I need to take a gamble first.’
But now, with the situation feeling so suffocating.
It would be wasteful to expend all our remaining cards at once, yet I could see a path forward by deploying them strategically to break through this deadlock.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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