I Can See the Comments on the Doomed Novel - Chapter 173



A First Taste

Having finished speaking, the hatter turned away.

Then the island that had been floating in the air rose straight up.

It seemed to say, “Come if you dare.”

To nullify all deities and ascend to the heavens while obtaining what he desired.

Could he be mistaking himself for a true god?

‘In any case, he means to loop the world.’

His goal was clear.

He intended to turn back the world so that this novel would continue to repeat.

It might not be so strange for a character to wish for the world they lived in to go on forever.

The Surte I fought before said something similar.

That his role was to bring about the world’s destruction.

He didn’t know what to do now that it was over.

How could you all move forward without a role of your own?

But repeating this tragedy over and over is something I cannot accept.

Countless people have died in the wake of destruction.

I continue to remember the blood and tears shed in that process.

To say that this tragedy will be repeated again and again.

If there truly is such a thing as editorial power, then surely… there must be a way to write it differently.

“Ji-hoon!”

At that moment, the girls came running from behind.

Yuri, Hyena, Eunbyeol, Eve.

It was safe to say that the five of us, including me, represented the entirety of the power we could muster right now.

“I saw the hat maker going up earlier. What’s going on?”

“This was all part of the hat maker’s plan. The reason the god has become like this is because he poisoned him.”

“Why would that person do that? Wasn’t he just a merchant?”

I explained what had happened with the hat maker earlier.

That he had poisoned the deities.

And that he was trying to take Pandora’s box to complete his plan.

Upon hearing the explanation, Yuri bit her lip tightly.

“Could it be that while earning coins, he was doing such things behind our backs?”

For Yuri, who had lost the knight order once and said goodbye to them, it must be a hard story to accept.

And it wasn’t just Yuri.

Everyone here had experienced the loss of something precious in their own way.

Eunbyeol looked around and said,

“He’s someone who would go this far to execute his plan. I doubt he would respond to reason or common sense.”

All around us, countless deities lay fallen.

If he had thought about the consequences, he wouldn’t have done something like this in the first place.

He intends to settle things here, no matter what happens.

“Is Cain okay?”

Hyena nodded her head.

“I don’t feel like I’m going to die right away. For now, Shaomei is watching over me. Eunsol’s robot is broken, so it won’t be able to help either.”

“So, what you’re saying is that the only people we can rely on are all gathered here.”

Should we consider that a stroke of luck?

I’m not sure how powerful the hat maker is, but we still have some means to stop him.

“But to stop the hat maker, we have to go over there, right?”

Eve looked at the floating island in the air.

Spheres of light were drifting around it.

Those aren’t just there for show.

If we’re going to the island, there will be considerable fighting ahead.

Hyena opened her mouth, as if worried.

“If we’re going up, we can manage somehow with the Naglfar that Hella gave us. But as you know, the Naglfar isn’t a combat ship.”

Yuri nodded, as if she understood.

“So we’ll have to take hits while we’re attacked.”

The only means of ascent is the Naglfar.

There’s no way they’ll just let us sail peacefully until then.

If something happens to the ship, we’ll be helplessly plummeting.

There’s no other way to handle it.

“Moreover, there’s the issue of landing. They won’t just let us touch down on the island without interference.”

It’s true that landing is one of the most challenging aspects of warfare.

Leaving that responsibility solely to Hyena would be too much of a burden.

“If it’s about absorbing the shock, I’ll manage somehow.”

At that moment, Eve spoke up.

“As you know, I can synchronize my magic with others. Until now, I’ve mainly done that with Eunsol’s gun.”

A single, devastating strike created by pouring all magic into it.

I’ve received help from that more times than I can count.

“If I synchronize with the ship this time and enhance it further, we should be able to hold on somehow.”

“Are you sure that’s okay? It might put a strain on your body.”

This situation is different from the last time when I gathered magic and unleashed maximum output for a moment.

It means we have to maintain that state until we reach the island.

—

It’s clear that both Eve and Hyena will bring a significant crowd.

“It’s okay. I’ll manage somehow. But please promise me one thing.”

Eve looked at me with a serious gaze.

“No matter what happens in between, Jihoon must not help us.”

“What?”

“The hat maker will surely be a formidable foe. We can’t know what else he might be hiding. And probably… the hat maker chose Jihoon as the one to take him down. Right?”

“That’s…”

“Don’t underestimate your goddess too much. That day, when Jihoon saved my life. I know that’s something an ordinary player can’t do.”

I bit my lip tightly.

The day I shattered the text and denied the very story itself.

It seemed Eve vaguely sensed that it wasn’t a normal occurrence.

“Perhaps it will be the same as then. Fate points to Jihoon and the hat maker. The only one who can stop him is definitely Jihoon. That’s why he chose Jihoon. So we must reach the island in one piece. Promise me. No matter what happens, you’ll stay still.”

As expected, the white spheres did not remain still.

They suddenly transformed, morphing into a book.

The letters on the open pages began to glow, and then, they shot out spheres of light.

“Ugh!”

-BOOM!!

Dozens of books unleashed their magical energy.

Is this what it feels like to charge into battle, getting pelted by bullets in a tank?

Each time a sphere of light made contact, the shield rippled.

The ship swayed slightly as well.

“What the hell!”

Eunbyeol immediately unleashed a barrage from her pistol imbued with divine power.

Books struck by the bullets fell to the ground in a cascade.

But there were dozens of them.

The magical projectiles they fired were by no means weak.

Right now, it feels safe aboard this reinforced ship, but—

Each of those shots likely holds more power than a typical cannon.

That relentless bombardment battered the ship mercilessly.

-CRASH!

The ship rocked violently from the impact on its side.

The slightly unfurled shield flickered uneasily.

“Cough!”

Blood gushed from the mouths of Eve and Hyena, who had been focused.

Their bodies were in no condition to withstand this, having exhausted their magical energy down to the last drop.

‘I could join the fray to lessen the burden, but…’

I had just made a promise to Eve.

And her judgment was strategically sound.

All I could do was trust the two of them and hold on.

At that moment, the books floating in the sky ceased their assault.

Had they deemed the continuous attack meaningless?

They suddenly merged together in midair.

It transformed into the form of a colossal angel.

I’ve seen many gods in my time, but this might just be the closest representation of what one would typically call a ‘deity.’

“What, what on earth…?”

The sphere of light from earlier was already an immense mass of magical power.

A magical bomb like that could be unleashed without pause.

To think that such forces could merge into one.

I can’t even begin to imagine how vast that power must be.

Even the magic I felt coursing through my skin far surpassed ordinary levels.

In that state, the magic began to gather at the center of the being.

Not to launch a series of weak attacks, but to deliver a single blow that could end it all.

‘This is dangerous. With Hena and Eve in their current state, we can’t stop that.’

Both of them had already pushed their magic to the limit.

Considering the landing, they had no capacity left to block it.

At that moment, Yura drew her sword and stepped forward.

“I thought my fight with Surtr was over. Yet here I am, faced with another worthy opponent at the end. Well, this isn’t so bad after all.”

She held her sword with both hands, gazing at the towering angel before her.

In this dire situation, her unwavering stance exuded the essence of a true knight.

With eyes brimming with confidence, Yura looked at me.

“Lee Ji-hoon.”

“Yeah?”

“I used to resent the world. I resented myself, the power I couldn’t protect, and the sword that made me arrogant.”

She held her sword in that very stance.

A posture so beautiful it was hard to put into words.

I couldn’t fathom how many times she must have swung her sword to achieve such audacity.

A single knight wielding everything in a single stroke.

Only one decisive strike.

The sharpness she possessed now seemed capable of cleaving even a god in two.

“Still, I’m truly grateful to have learned the sword. Because now I can wield it for my friends. Thanks to all of you, I’ve been able to push this far. It would have been impossible alone.”

Magic erupted from the angel’s mouth.

In response, blue magic and sword energy surged wildly.

“Right now, I could even cut down my own black sword. That’s how I feel.”

Yuri moves.

The sword did not swing twice.

It was a strike that contained everything, a blow of utmost sincerity.

That sword strike cleaved a massive angel floating in the sky in a single blow.