Starting with the Herrschers, I Cut Down All

That...

Click.

The Subspace Spears extended in nodes at intervals of a hundred meters, shifting between tangible and intangible as they rooted themselves underground, stretching all the way to the edge of his vision—until his current level could no longer control them.

They trembled in unison. Spatial fluctuations made the ground shake violently. Cracks spread across the earth, followed by the shattering of entire slabs. Who knew how many experience points that had created?

"Something's wrong!"

An Yu suddenly realized that he needed to collect experience points. If the ground broke apart, he couldn't exactly dig through the dirt piece by piece to pick them up.

"Logically, I should be looking for the city with the largest population right now."

But the devs had finally managed to make something that resembled a main storyline, so he'd follow it for now.

"Europe, probably." An Yu pondered for a moment, then smiled and held out a hand. "This way?"

The Subspace Spears, now fully intangible and traveling through the Void Realm, scattered and streaked out from ripples high behind him, raining down indiscriminately.

"Even though my main skill is only level 4, I'm already confident I can clear this." Zero-∏@^zero÷

How could he possibly lose with spatial powers?

Idiotic devs. Did they think the first stage was too hard, so they'd forcibly hand out some god-tier skills in the second?

"Honkai Descends!"

High in the sky, Imaginary Space diluted the ozone layer. As his focus continued to rise, he could even vaguely sense meteors drifting through space.

"If I can lose this round, I'll eat shit!"

"Benares, let's go sightsee in Europe..."

Before his arrogant, confident voice could finish, a scorching and tumultuous blast wave like raging fire had already reached him from afar.

"Annihilate Them All!"

An Yu didn't even have time to complain. His body instinctively blinked through Imaginary Space. His level 4 main skill had ultimately held him back, failing to keep up with his nearly eighteen-year-old reaction speed.

When he reappeared, An Yu was already standing atop the head of the dragon netizens jokingly called Bebe Dragon. The blood on his abdomen rapidly evaporated under the searing heat, and the wound hardened shut.

He looked at the man on the ground and covered his face.

"Heh. Hehehe. Hahahahaha!"

An Yu laughed quietly, then burst into loud laughter.

"Looks like you can't fly, boss."

The hell, he'd spent the whole day pissed off. Was he supposed to get bullied by this guy after entering a game at night too?

The sky behind him filled with ripples. Countless unstoppable weapons gradually emerged, blotting out the heavens and covering the earth.

"In the end, you're merely an ant. Hmph."

Before the taunt could finish, the man violated every law of physics An Yu had learned since childhood. The shockwave from his fist arrived in the sky before the man himself did.

"Wha—"

Volume One Seven: Chapter 17, 17. Look up and see who the real seven-value is! 8×!

He jumped a thousand meters straight up, then used the force of his punch to make space fluctuate and break the Subspace Spear's unstoppable effect?

Designer, you're fucking dead!

Dragging his mangled body along, An Yu's affinity with the Void Realm seemed to have made his body violate a few laws of biology as well. His physical strength and recovery were unlike those of ordinary people, constantly repairing his ruined body.

"Bebe Dragon, carry me for a bit."

Though Benares had also been heavily wounded, it still faithfully did its duty. An Yu lay on top of the demonic dragon's head until he noticed faint fluctuations on the ground, and his heart instinctively skipped a beat.

Fuck, banishing him several thousand meters underground only held him for that long?

Strong mechanics weren't truly strong, but beautiful stats were genuinely beautiful.

"Good. This time, it's spatial ability."

He had banished that monster thousands of kilometers away.

[Detected that the player's large-scale indiscriminate attack has made clearing the stage nearly hopeless. Would you like to activate the exclusive scenario early?]

"What do you mean, because of my large-scale indiscriminate attack?"

An Yu laughed in anger. He was playing a mowing-down roguelike, and he still had to tread carefully? Then why the hell was he playing this trash game?

The designer hadn't balanced their own game properly. Couldn't they just get on their knees and admit they were wrong?

"Activate it."

That was how he complained, but An Yu had already been pissed off all day. He wasn't in the mood to keep taking shit at night. If it was fun, he'd enjoy it. If not, he'd go play Koikatsu 6.

The screen suddenly went black. After a brief loading screen, An Yu's injuries had fully recovered. He stood in midair, surrounded by colorful darkness... It was a little dazzling.

The malice permeating the surroundings made him frown instinctively. This game's sensory sharing was really well done. If he hadn't lowered the sharing intensity, he might truly have been unable to endure such pure malice.

"Where's the monster?"

"Instead of learning the good stuff, you learned the bad. You didn't learn the old era's innovation, but you did learn how to force players to walk through the plot, huh?" 3

That was what he said, but An Yu found that he could still blink repeatedly until he touched the first ripple in the darkness.

"I nearly forgot. You can't afford voice actors anyway, so there's no plot to watch."

An Yu muttered a few words and touched the ripple.

The next moment, his perspective shifted. A cutscene flashed before his eyes, seemingly the first stage the designer had played themselves.

His lips curled in disdain. What garbage controls. It was irritating just to watch.

[Kill the first survivor. Obtained special identity: Herrscher.]

An Yu froze for a moment. Was this really an exclusive dungeon?

"With this trash gear, I'm supposed to fight a fully equipped first-stage survivor?":

Designer, you're fucking dead.

A few minutes later, An Yu, having obtained the reward, examined his stats.

Herrscher: An Yu

Level: 6

Skills: Twin Familiars, Void Realm Apostle 5

Attribute: Attack Speed 3

"A bot match."

If the designer hadn't been fucking dead in the previous stage, An Yu couldn't have imagined himself losing. But he hadn't expected Replica Reconstruction, with such invincible mechanics, to perform so poorly in actual combat against bots—or perhaps the Herrscher of the Void was simply too overpowered.

The perspective returned, and he could vaguely sense the scorching blast wave in the distance.

"Persistent bastard."

"Do world bosses like you never lose aggro once you lock onto a target?" An Yu let out a long breath, his eyes turning cold.

"How are you supposed to fight me without mechanics?"

I'm not a survivor anymore. The absurdly high stats of this body made his reactions far surpass those of an eighteen-year-old!

The ripples behind him tore through space. Under the pull of the enormous Void Realm, time and space in the area before him continuously slowed to near stillness. An Yu could even clearly make out how crude the man's mask was.

Countless streams of the purest energy began to pour down, surrounding the boss within the nearly frozen time and space.

"Void Realm—Descend!"

The time stop ended. Energy poured down from all directions without a single blind spot. It was the simplest and most brutal clash between spaces, the purest enjoyment of immense potential energy.

Comparing stats and mechanics with space—unwise and reckless!

"But an enemy like you, a pure stats-based level 6 monster, really does give me a sense of accomplishment when I beat you as a player."

An Yu tore off his tattered clothes and walked down from the high heavens step by step. The energy that had so easily been stripped of its control in the previous stage now swirled around him protectively, forming the most gorgeous and dazzling top.

Come to think of it... these clothes were flashy as hell, but Herrscher battle armor really ought to have some presence.

As the smoke cleared, the man, riddled with holes and vaguely resembling a hedgehog, knelt on one knee on the ground. An Yu bent down and removed the ugly mask from his face.

Sure enough, his features were still impossible to see clearly, but the intense changes in pixels still allowed An Yu to understand the boss's emotions.

"You will become the bones beneath my throne most worthy of my remembrance."

Suddenly, the hole-riddled, hedgehog-like man threw his final punch. Extreme heat and force rushed straight at him.

But An Yu merely slipped lightly into Imaginary Space, then appeared at a safe distance and snapped his fingers.

The Void Realm energy that had remained inside the man without dissipating finally emitted light. Vibrations born from time and space dealt continuously stacking true damage.

"Hmph. Opposing a god is utterly foolish."

Without the ability to avoid mechanic-kill attacks, what made him think he could fight space? His high health? He dealt true damage.

[Please select a skill upgrade.]

Void Realm Apostle 5 → Void Edict

Attack Speed 3 → 4

Movement Speed 0 → 1

Main skill, no-brainer choice: Void Edict.

[Please select an attribute upgrade.]

Attack Speed 3 → 4

Attack Power 0 → 1

Health 0 → 1

Space dealt true damage and piercing damage. Attack speed, no-brainer.

[Please select an attribute upgrade.]

Attack Speed 4 → 5

Health Regeneration 0 → 1

Edict 0 → 1

Attack speed, no brain—what the hell was Edict?

Selected Edict.

[Void Edict]

Active: Freely connect and manipulate the barriers between two realms.

Passive: You possess authority over both realms.

[Attack Speed 4]

Your attack speed increases by 80%.

[Edict]

Active: Void Realm attacks apply 0 → 3 stacks of Edict based on their magnitude.

Passive: Each stack of Edict grants the next Void Realm attack 1% precision and 1% increased damage taken.

Speaking of Edict, An Yu thought of the game played by Bronya's boss again.

The Herrscher of the Void had been an early character in that game, and later on, her damage really had been a bit pathetic.

But he hadn't expected this fan-made game to play with memes too. Space was already invincible, and now it came with infinitely stacking precision and increased damage taken.

"If I can't clear this run, I'll eat shit!"

"Benares, set off! To Europe!"

Though judging by this designer's thinking, everything should have been transplanted directly from reality, so Europe's population probably wasn't very large.

But that was fine. The place was small too, so it would be quick to clear!

Volume One:

Chapter 18: An Yu: Cutting Down Grass Put Me in a Much Better Mood. Elysia: ... Kalpas: ...