The Man with Hypnotic Powers Doesn't Hold Back the Second Time Around

Chapter 227

The tentacles threw me straight into the teleportation magic circle,

so fast that neither Master nor I, as Transcendents, could react in time.

Crackle.

[The Gate expands to consume divine power....]

...A barrier!?

To make matters worse, a barrier formed around the magic circle.

It was solid, clearly designed to keep everyone but me out.

The moment I saw it, I gave up on being rescued.

Grind.

...Looks like I’ll have to handle the boss fight alone.

It reminded me of that A+ Gate from the day Alice and Solip were filming the eye drop commercial.

A barrier had formed around the outer edge, preventing reinforcements from entering for 30 minutes.

Back then, Master had torn it apart with ease,

but that was just an A+ Gate—something she could rip apart with one hand.

This, however, was an EX-Class Gate.

Its barrier was bound to be far stronger, perhaps even beyond Master’s ability to break.

Waiting for rescue while soloing the final boss?

No way. I wouldn’t survive that.

Flash.

...No choice but to prepare to press the button!!

I focused my gaze on the status window.

The button Hypnosis-chan had created—the one that would make me a god with a single "click."

I’d declared that becoming a god was the "bad ending,"

but compared to the "dead ending," it seemed like the better choice.

So, I prepared myself.

Shia, Alice, Master... I truly loved—

"Why don’t you stop right there? I mean no harm to you."

"...What?"

I froze, my hand hovering over the button.

My surroundings shifted as I came back to my senses.

And there, amidst the new scenery, I saw her—a woman.

Her mere presence sent chills down my spine.

Gulp.

What the hell is that...?!

Instinct told me.

This was the master of the Gate. The final boss.

The one Paimon referred to as "that entity" with such dread.

And I also knew...

That facing her alone was as futile as throwing an egg at a boulder.

The gap between us was insurmountable.

I reached for the button again.

If I don’t become a god now, I won’t stand a chance....

Clink.

"Don’t. You don’t need to fear me."

"What?"

"There’s no need for us to fight, you and I."

"...?"

Just as I was about to press the button, she raised both hands calmly,

a gesture of peace, as if to say she had no intention of fighting.

"You tie me up and then start spouting nonsense...."

"I only restrained you to bring you here. If other mortals came along,

I wouldn’t have been able to speak with you."

"As if I’d believe that—"

Rustle.

"I released you. Does that help you believe me?"

"Uh, well..."

"If you’re still upset, I’ll apologize. I’m sorry."

"..."

She even bent low, bowing deeply enough to show the crown of her head.

...This was confusing.

She wasn’t just capable of communication—she lacked hostility.

She had even apologized for tying me up with tentacles.

From this angle, she seemed like a perfectly ordinary person.

A disturbingly powerful one, sure, but not unlike the transcendent older sister I’d encountered before.

Still, something felt off.

I couldn’t bring myself to trust her entirely.

The unease gnawed at me, so I called out to Hypnosis-chan.

Hypnosis-chan, what is that?

[......]

Your mom is pretty impressive, huh?

[......]

...Guess the status window’s busted.

No response.

Only meaningless static from the status window.

Even Hypnosis-chan stayed silent.

"Still not ready?"

"Hmm. Deciding who to bring along is hard—Suyeon, Hayoung,

the in-laws, Suguru, Dr. Brooks...."

"......."

Thirty minutes passed.

"Still not ready? Still not ready? Still not ready?"

"Good decisions take time."

"......?"

"Just a little longer. Please."

"......."

An hour passed.

For a full hour, I dragged this out, faking deliberation until her patience wore thin.

"Still not ready?"

"Just a little more...."

"You have no intention of accepting, do you?"

Her voice turned cold, and the atmosphere grew tense.

...She must have realized I was stalling on purpose.

Let’s see if I can push it just a bit further.

Grin.

"You know, something about this doesn’t add up."

"What doesn’t?"

"The fact that the Saintess regressed me. Isn’t that a blatant violation of natural law?"

I opened my mouth as if wringing out a dry rag.

The Saintess’s act of forcing my regression was no small thing.

It fundamentally went against the natural order.

And yet, supposedly, she regressed me simply because she didn’t trust me?

Just to instill a sense of vengeance by making me experience destruction?

"Does that make sense?"

"......."

"The Saintess bore the full cost of defying the natural order to regress me.

To go to such lengths for a pawn is not a profitable move."

If her goal was merely to make me her pawn,

she could’ve just controlled me with hypnosis.

Even now, as a Transcendent, her hypnosis seems to remain effective—

my incomplete memories of not having children and the moments surrounding regression are proof of that.

Crackle.

...Is it about time yet?

"And, above all..."

I spoke one last time, looking her squarely in the eyes.

Her expression remained the same as it had from the beginning.

"I’ve had this nagging feeling from the start.

Something about you feels off."

"What do you mean?"

"You give off this distinct vibe. Like a villain.

The kind you can’t reason with. The irredeemable kind.

The kind who turns others into villains by their influence."

"You’re basically the mother of all villains.

Every villain exists because of you."

With that, I stopped acting.

Unable to hide my disgust any longer, my face contorted into a scowl.

"There’s no negotiating with villains."

Her reaction?

Grin.

"...What a pity. I thought I was doing a decent job pretending."

Her gums showed as she smiled widely,

the grotesque grin characteristic of a villain.

Just as I had been acting, so had she.

Her mask of normalcy dropped.

Clang!

"S-Class Rank 7, Seo Yujin.

The boss raid for the EX-Class Gate begins now."

"I really didn’t want to fight."

I unsheathed my katana, and she began summoning tentacles from thin air.

The final boss battle had officially begun.

"You’ll regret this...."

Crack. Flash!!!

[YUJIN!!!]

"...Hm?"

But, apparently, it wasn’t going to be a fair one-on-one fight.

"How did you break through?

You’ve only just transcended...."

"HRAAAAH!!!"

Slash.

"...KYAAAH!!!"

And to top it off, I began by spreading divine essence everywhere.

The final battle had commenced, reeking of the scent of acacia blossoms.