Trait Hoarder-Chapter 299: Trait Hoarder – The End

Trait Hoarder – The End

Silence.

The world froze.

Stillness.

The Old Father stood motionless, like a taxidermied beast.

And then his forehead began to crack.

Fractures ran down his face, neck, chest, and torso.

The Old Father slowly began to split apart.

“You… you!”

He desperately tried to hold himself together, but it was useless.

My strike—my single slash—had already cleaved through both the Old Father and the Divine Kingdom.

Crack, crackle…

The constellations of the cosmos began to collapse.

The same was happening down below on the surface.

Fractures spread through the entire dimension, racing toward destruction.

The Old Father let out a scream from the depths of his soul.

“This can’t… this can’t be the end! Not like this!”

Too late now.

I casually flicked a finger.

A storm burst outward.

The lines of fate and destiny twisted together.

And with it, the collapse of chaos accelerated.

“Guaaaahhh! Aaaahhhhhhh!”

The scream reverberated across the entire sub-dimension.

He couldn’t hold on any longer.

The body forged of void and radiance began to swell—

Then exploded.

A cataclysm of divine power and mana burst forth.

The impact should have vaporized me, but I simply stood there with my arms crossed.

I already knew what was coming.

[Ooooooh…]

[Freedom…]

[At last…]

[I’m alive… I’m alive…]

A storm of divine power and mana.

And within it, like clouds rolling in, came a tide of spirits.

Flickering, hazy souls—right on the brink of vanishing.

Many wore the robes or gear of the Old Father’s cult.

Priests. Holy knights.

Crusaders. Devotees.

[Oh, oh, oh…]

[Salvation has come!]

[The light is here!]

[Praise the Savior!]

The spirits swirled around me, crying out in rapture.

But it wasn’t over yet.

I waited patiently.

Even as the world collapsed.

Even as the constellations shattered into a storm of falling stars.

I kept waiting.

Until finally—what I was waiting for emerged.

A rainbow-hued jewel.

No—should I call it a substance?

It radiated brilliant light, yet it wasn’t mere light.

It was a thing that was matter and not matter, power and not power, rising in calm silence.

A shard of divinity.

If I claimed that, I would become a god.

I’d reach level 9, become the strongest superhuman on Earth.

But I wasn’t looking at the shard.

I was looking past it—

At the soul quietly rising behind it.

Slender frame.

A black-gold crown glimmering on her head.

Black breastplate. A skirt of steel plates.

The Saintess.

Just as she was in life—not the old crone, but a woman in her late twenties.

She looked at me and gave a soft smile.

She knelt.

Placed both hands on the ground.

Pressed her head down in a gesture of absolute reverence.

[Our deepest congratulations, O Savior.]

A complete reversal from before.

[The Savior has destroyed his fate and seized a destiny supreme.]

[Oh, oh, oh, oh!]

[Praise the Savior!]

[Glorious and Exalted is He!]

[He shall save all the world!]

The spirits cheered, howling around me.

The Saintess lifted her face.

Her fevered eyes gazed up at me.

Even bowed in reverence, she was still the Saintess.

And the madness in her eyes had not faded.

[O Savior!]

She screamed as if in ecstasy.

[I beg of you—O God-King of the New Era! Take up the divinity, the divine seat, and the Divine Kingdom of the Old Father! Ascend the Throne of Chaos! Be reborn as the King of Chaos, and save this world—this hellish Earth! Lead the pitiful humans from the sea of suffering!]

Pfft.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘So this is what it was.’

Her ultimate goal.

Back during the Rapture—the soul war—the Old Father had accused the Saintess of lacking true devotion.

Now it made sense.

The Saintess hadn’t served the Old Father out of faith. She was using him for her own ends.

She didn’t even have a grand plan.

She just happened to ride the wave.

And now, her soul was trembling with shock, disbelief, and confusion.

“Why the hell would I?”

I asked bluntly.

The Saintess slammed her head to the ground.

[Of course, the Savior may well ascend to his own divine seat. But—O Savior!]

She turned to look behind her.

At least ten million souls.

And not just the Old Father’s cult.

There were angels. Demons.

Beast-kin from the Divine Kingdom.

Even the Kingdom itself loomed like a projected shadow.

[If you claim the Throne of Chaos, all of this will be yours! You shall reign eternal as the God-King of Chaos and Absolute Sovereign of the Divine Kingdom!]

Not a bad deal.

The wealth the Old Father had accumulated over millennia was enormous.

With this army, I could start a world conquest campaign.

If I wanted to, I could become Emperor of Humanity.

But—

“Go fuck yourself.”

I kicked the Saintess without hesitation.

[Aaaagh!]

She shattered into thousands of pieces.

Only the head remained, rolling across the floor.

The Saintess wept tears of blood in agony.

But even in pain, she looked up at me in disbelief.

[Why… why, how could you…]

“How could I?”

I pointed my finger at her.

“You acted like a bitch until now, and suddenly you want me to be your king? Get lost.”

Whoosh!

A divine flame ignited.

A transparent fire of godhood consumed her.

Not just the head—but every last shard of her splintered body.

[Aaaaaagh! AAAAAAAAAGH!!]

A long, drawn-out scream.

The gathered spirits began to flee.

[N-no!]

[Spare us!]

[We don’t want to die!]

Oh, now they beg?

Where was that energy when they were throwing themselves at the Old Father?

I didn’t even need to point.

I just glanced at them.

My will imposed the apocalypse upon the world—and offered it the same transparent flame.

A flame evolved through Black Flame, Supreme Flame, and finally the Myth of the Ultimate Void.

A true Endfire.

[Aaaaagh!]

[Noooooo!]

[Uwaaah! Uwaaaahhh!]

[Mercy! Please! Savior, have mercy!]

Bullshit.

So this is how they repaid the Gwangju citizens?

Massacring a population of nearly a million?

Among the spirits I could see, not a single one was innocent.

The souls of the Gwangju citizens were already long digested.

The only ones left were the humans, angels, demons, and beasts belonging to the Old Father’s cult.

Which meant they had to die.

No, not just die—be annihilated.

They deserved to be erased, in full, for the karmic debt they’d accrued.

To suffer thoroughly, to be tortured until their very souls perished—that was the sentence I delivered to this herd of spirits.

“Pah! Filthy bastards.”

The Divine Kingdom was dying.

The ultimate Endfire had latched onto the very fabric of the dimension.

It wouldn’t hold much longer.

I’d already severed the world’s source at its root.

So then—I needed to take what I came for and get the hell out.

Fssshhh.

Absorbed the shard of divinity.

An exalted, immeasurable power pierced into my soul.

I could feel my spirit, mind, and body slowly expanding.

I savored the sensation for a moment, then snapped back to focus.

To fully ascend to level 9, I’d need more time.

At least a month of meditation and refinement to complete the process.

But before that—there was work to be done.

Step.

I took a long stride.

Space folded in on itself.

More than a teleport—it was like a form of dimensional stride.

“Uh?”

“Master!”

My disciples stared at me in shock.

“What… what’s going on?!”

“The path disappeared!”

The constellation belt they had been standing on—

Had completely collapsed.

All that remained was a zero-gravity void, like deep space.

I gave a heavy nod.

“The Old Father is dead.”

“What?”

“Wha—?”

“Dead? What do you mean?”

“No time to explain.”

I reached out with my mana, like extending a giant hand.

Wrapped all the disciples in a single wave and took one step.

Sung Huiyeong and the Geumo Group executives were frozen, looking around in confusion.

“Sword Star!”

“You did it?!”

“Yes. Let’s go now.”

I picked them up one group at a time.

In reverse order from how we entered.

Third were Grizzly, Skeleton Snake, and the three Archbishops.

Fourth were the five fishfolk.

Fifth, Winter Queen and the five demi-humans.

Last were the dragons.

[Human!]

The Silver Dragon shouted as I appeared before him.

[The Divine Kingdom is collapsing! We must escape!]

“[I know.]”

[We must reach the dimensional gate! But the space ruptures prevent us from moving!]

That explained why the superhumans were stranded and uneasy.

It wasn’t just that the constellation belt was broken—

The entire Divine Kingdom had been torn into thousands of fragments.

There was no way to run, fly, or teleport between them.

“[Just leave it to me.]”

Didn’t matter to me.

I extended my mana again.

Wrapped the massive dragons in its flow and took a single step.

The shattered world fell behind us—and the entire strike team landed in the black wasteland.

[Wh-What is this…]

[Human! How did you do that?!]

[Teleportation spells were failing completely!]

[Even an 8th-level Archmage couldn’t pull this off—how could an 8th-level Warrior do it?]

Well, the truth was, I wasn’t really 8th-level anymore.

I ignored the chatter and kept walking forward.

Amid the fractured landscape, the allied forces were huddled together.

Thankfully, spatial collapse hadn’t hit this zone.

Likely because this patch of land was where the false resurrection miracle—the sacrifice miracle—had been performed.

“Sword Star!”

“Sword Star!”

The 8th-level superhumans blinked into view around me like lights flickering back on.

“Hmm?”

Sensing something, Poca widened his eyes as he stared at me.

“Sword Star, you…”

He even let out a groan as he addressed me.

“Did you… did you kill the Old Father and absorb his divinity?”

“What?”

“What are you saying?”

“You absorbed divinity?!”

The other superhumans turned to me and Poca in shock.

I calmly nodded.

“Of course. The Old Father was the root of this entire incident, wasn’t he?”

“Hah.”

“Unbelievable…”

“You killed a god?”

“I thought you’d just slay the Saintess and seal the Old Father.”

“Hold on a second.”

The Tower Master of the Sun Mage Tower gave me a skeptical look.

“You’re saying you killed the Old Father by yourself? Not before he descended, but after?”

“Yes.”

“That’s impossible… In the Godslayer War, dozens of divine beings died, but that took ten level-9 heroes working together. You went in alone, didn’t you? The strike team just opened the path.”

The Tower Master paused.

His eyes spun as he processed it.

Then, cautiously, as if testing the mood, he asked,

“Did you… ascend to level 9?”

Of course.

That was the only conclusion.

All eyes turned to me.

Both Legion Commanders. The Tower Master who asked the question. The Chairman of the Myth Group. Poca. The Divine General and the Blood King. Even the Grand Elder.

Everyone stared as if trying to burn the truth into their minds.

The strike team I brought back was no different.

I nodded—very slowly.

“I suppose you could say that.”

“Ha! My god!”

“Level 9 at age twenty-three?!”

“That’s a new record, right? It has to be!”

“Even the Heavenly Demon only hit level 9 in his late twenties!”

“A miracle! A true miracle!”

“Congratulations, Sword Star!”

“Congratulations!”

“Sword Star, you’re destined to become one of the Three Great Heavenly Demons!”

Three Great Heavenly Demons, huh?

You can keep that. I’m not interested.

I may have been the Heavenly Demon in my past life, and I might’ve inherited all his memories—but that title? It’s a colossal pain in the ass.

Constant kowtowing from cultists, never-ending requests for guidance, managing the Demon Cult, running its territory…

It’s way better to just live my own life than declare I was the Heavenly Demon and invite that mess.

My disciples beamed.

“Becoming your disciple was the greatest luck of my life, Master!”

“Congratulations!”

“This is legendary! I’m seriously touched!”

“You were amazing the first time we met, but now? This is just…”

They all looked like they were in a dream.

Even Kim Chulkwon, Kim Mabeob, Kim Saje, and Choi Sunsoo sent messages from Sky River.

[You truly are my lord. I knew this day would come the moment I swore loyalty to you.]

Stop calling me “lord,” damn it.

[Hyung! You’re level 9 now?! Congratulations! Honestly, people who hit level 9 really are built different. You were already on another level when we first met.]

Well, that’s true. I did help him fulfill his Mage Tower wish.

[Hyung! Even our god says congratulations! He’s planning to visit soon with an offering—would that be okay? I think he’s going to descend through me!]

Looks like Kim Saje’s god wants to hop onto my divine path.

After descending through an apostle, the apostle becomes insanely powerful.

[Mr. Sword Star! Today, you’ve made history. As soon as we get back, I’m going to contact a novelist and a film studio so we can produce your biography and a movie about your life!]

Don’t you dare. That’s just embarrassing.

WHACK!

One of the Legion Commanders clapped me hard on the back and burst into hearty laughter.

“I can die happy now—truly happy! You really are Earth’s greatest! No, the greatest in history! And not just any divinity—defeating the Old Father in a one-on-one duel! Come on, tell me—how did you kill him?”

“I struck him down with the Black Tiger Sword.”

“Huh? What?”

“You see it? Still got his divine blood on it.”

I drew the sword and showed them.

The blade, once pitch black, now shimmered with golden and obsidian flame-like patterns—likely from the Old Father’s divine blood.

The Black Tiger Sword, once just an indestructible weapon with overwhelming physical power, had evolved into a divine weapon imbued with the trait: [Godslayer].

“Ooooh! OHHHH!”

The Legion Commander’s eyes went wide as he looked at the sword.

“Well done! Damn well done!”

He was so overwhelmed he got teary-eyed.

“I really can die without regrets now… I thought reaching level 9 alone was a miracle, but to achieve Godslaying… and not just any god, but a supreme deity like the Old Father…”

“You need to stick around. Live another hundred years.”

“Wha—! You brat! Trying to mock an old man now? That’s how you get dementia! When you get old, you should die gracefully! I’m not trying to go out drooling on myself, you know!”

“Hahaha.”

As nice as this moment is, there’s no time to relax.

WOOOOOM.

Sky River hovered low and drew close.

And with a flash of light, the goddess of Sky River appeared before me.

[Sword Star. The exit is gone. The dimensional gate has vanished. The Divine Kingdom won’t last much longer. If we don’t escape within five minutes, everyone dies.]

“It’s fine.”

I gripped my sword and answered.

“I’ll open the way now.”

I slashed downward.

The Godslayer Sword tore through space and cleaved world from world.

A vast rift of blue split open, revealing another world on the other side.

It was many times larger than the gate we used to enter.

Large enough to let thousands pass through shoulder-to-shoulder.

Gasps echoed behind me.

“My god…”

“You… cut open a dimensional gate with a sword?”

“Even Merlin needs an incantation to open one…”

“Same for Gabriel…”

If that shocks them, what I’m about to do next will floor them.

I slashed a few more times.

Three more dimensional rifts opened—in the east, west, south, and north.

Plenty of room for tens of thousands of allied forces to evacuate with time to spare.

“Let’s go home.”

I sheathed the Godslayer Sword and stepped forward.

“To home.”

I crossed through the dimensional rift.

Somehow, they’d already heard the news.

In the far distance, the Superhuman Tower in Songpa was in full bloom like a flower.

Celebrating my rise to level 9.

Not just one wall open—every wall was lit up.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM-BOOM!

Magical fireworks painted the sky over all of South Korea.

Everywhere you looked, they exploded.

Maybe they were trying to cover up the Gwangju massacre with a deluge of celebration.

“Woooooo!”

“Long live Sword Star!”

“Long live!”

“Nine-level! Nine-level! Nine-level!”

The soldiers guarding Gwangju ran out, cheering.

Tat-tat-tat! Tat-tat!

Some even fired their guns into the sky.

Others hugged and jumped with joy.

Maybe it was because they’d grown up in this hellish world.

No one wanted to acknowledge what had happened to the now ghost-town Gwangju.

I turned quietly toward the western sky.

The sun was falling.

Twilight was creeping in, darkness rising.

Just like this world.

Episodes 1, 2, 3…

I managed to stop the Saintess arc with minimal damage, but I still had six more episodes ahead—ones I knew of, anyway.

‘Demon Dragon, Gates of Hell, Nuclear War.’

Three episodes possibly manipulated by the Truth Tower, or maybe even Mars of Rome himself.

‘Ice Age, Alien Invasion, Dimensional Collapse.’

Three caused by Leviathan, one of the level-9s, experimenting with dimensional fusion.

‘And then… the Final Apocalypse.’

The one even gods feared.

The very reason the Saintess summoned me in the first place.

Episode 10.

Something not even the game covered.

‘Still a long way to go.’

I clenched my fist.

Level 9 wasn’t the end.

Episode 9 had a level-10 god raid update.

Which meant Episode 10 would—

Introduce bosses stronger than Thor or Gaia.

‘Gotta hoard more traits.’

There’s a way.

I’ll collect every trait in this world.

Even those locked behind class restrictions.

Even the unique traits tied to specific characters.

Hoard them all.

Build a tower of traits.

A tower that reaches beyond level 9—all the way to level 10.

Then I’ll crush the God of War Mars, the fusion monstrosity Leviathan, and the Final Apocalypse itself.

That will be the end.

And maybe—just maybe—this shitty world will become a little more livable.

Maybe I’ll finally be able to spend my days lazily playing games in bed, living happily as the world’s most carefree slacker.

And for me, that’s easy.

Because—

Because I am—

Trait Hoarder Kim!