Free Web NovelChapter 328: Chapter 328: The Cartographers Descend
The ruins of the altar were filled with the smell of scorched space—the lingering aftermath of reality being forcibly torn apart.
Levi stood amid the collapsed remains of black alloy structures.
The ground beneath his feet had long since crumbled into dust.
Countless tiny spatial fragments floated through the air around him like shattered mirrors, reflecting distorted patterns of light.
He made no move to leave.
Instead, he raised his right hand.
Golden and silver-white radiance intertwined across his palm.
Under the guidance of his will, the Source of Dominion transformed into countless delicate threads that spread in every direction, piercing through the lingering traces of energy and attempting to reconstruct Doctor Doom’s final actions before his retreat.
The threads behaved like hypersensitive nerve endings, capturing every residual fluctuation within the void.
Levi closed his eyes.
His consciousness followed those threads deeper and deeper.
He saw that before cutting off his projection, Doctor Doom had released an extremely subtle wave of green energy throughout the area.
It was not an attack.
Instead, it propagated outward at a unique frequency, carving an invisible mark into the foundational code of the universe.
Levi’s eyes snapped open.
Gold-crimson and silver-white light flared from his pupils.
He had already understood the nature of the mark.
Using a method similar to quantum entanglement, Doctor Doom had forcibly severed Universe-621’s causal connections to all neighboring parallel universes.
This universe had become an isolated island adrift within the multiversal ocean.
Any outside interference would simply be reflected away by the mark.
The situation was even worse than that.
This state of isolation would accelerate the universe’s own decay.
Like an ecosystem cut off from all external exchanges of energy, internal disorder would grow exponentially.
Levi could clearly sense that the spacetime structure of Universe-621 was collapsing at an alarming rate.
What should have had months of remaining lifespan now possessed only a few hours.
Frowning, he accelerated the operation of the golden threads in his palm, attempting to reverse-engineer the structure of the mark.
This was not a simple energy attack.
It was conceptual manipulation on a higher level, involving direct alteration of the multiverse’s foundational rules.
Doctor Doom had clearly anticipated interference and prepared this contingency in advance.
Just as Levi was about to continue his analysis, the entire altar region suddenly trembled.
Not physically.
This was a deeper disturbance.
Something enormous was tearing at the boundary of the universe and forcing its way inside.
Levi looked upward.
The previously gray sky transformed in an instant into an eerie blue grid.
The countless lines resembled scanning beams projected from some vast instrument, covering the entire planet.
Each beam was conducting an incomprehensible form of analysis.
Levi’s gaze immediately locked onto their source.
Beyond the outer layers of Universe-621, three colossal mechanical constructs were descending.
Their scale was terrifying.
Each was comparable in size to an asteroid.
Their surfaces were covered in flowing silver liquid metal, while countless tentacle-like mechanical arms extended from their cores, each ending in a brilliant blue glow.
Levi examined them carefully.
There was no sign of biological life within them.
Yet he could clearly perceive the incredibly pure Beyonder energy flowing through their systems.
Unlike the chaotic power raging within the Molecule Man, this energy was perfectly regulated.
It resembled compressed code locked into a highly efficient power core, providing precise energy to support every movement of the mechanical shell.
These were not mindless machines.
They were precision instruments designed to accomplish a specific purpose.
The blue grid began to contract.
What had once covered the entire planet narrowed until it enveloped only the altar region.
The three constructs emitted a deep mechanical voice.
The sound did not travel through air.
It resonated directly through space itself, like an ancient verdict being pronounced.
> "Experimental Subject 621-Omega-17 displays anomalous data."
> "Molecule Man life signs stable. Energy core has not detonated."
> "Assessment: Experiment failure."
> "Initiating formatting protocol."
Three blue energy columns erupted from the cores of the constructs and blasted toward the altar.
Space shattered along their path.
Matter, void, and even conceptual remnants were erased completely.
This was not simple destruction.
The attack sought to remove the region itself from the framework of the multiverse, deleting not only its present existence but every historical trace associated with it.
Levi did not move.
The Concept of Greed exploded into action.
A bottomless black vortex materialized before him.
Its diameter expanded from the size of a fist until it engulfed the entire altar.
The three beams, each capable of annihilating a planet, plunged into the vortex like stones sinking into the sea.
Not even a ripple appeared.
The essence of Greed was the acquisition of all things of value.
The Beyonder energy within these attacks was dangerous, certainly.
But to Levi, it was no different from the unstable white light he had just extracted from the Molecule Man.
Merely another valuable resource to consume.
The vortex spun wildly.
Every trace of energy within the beams was absorbed and funneled through Levi’s consciousness into the depths of his Inner Universe.
The Void Walkers still digesting the previous influx immediately sensed the arrival of higher-quality nourishment.
Excited shrieks echoed throughout the Inner Universe.
They surged toward the incoming streams of blue energy and devoured them greedily.
Levi could clearly feel their strength skyrocketing. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Creatures that had previously been only at the lower levels of the Skyfather tier advanced to the middle tier within seconds.
And the growth showed no signs of slowing.
The three mechanical constructs ceased their attack.
The silver liquid metal covering their surfaces churned violently.
Streams of data flashed across them as they reevaluated the threat standing before them.
A moment later, a sharper mechanical voice sounded.
> "Unknown variable detected."
> "Threat level: Extreme."
> "Target classified as probable multiversal entity."
> "Warning: Standard formatting protocols ineffective."
> "Requesting elevated authorization."
A cold smile appeared on Levi’s face.
He had no intention of waiting around for them to obtain authorization.
If they wanted to escalate, he would simply seize control first.
The Source of Dominion erupted at full strength.
Golden radiance surged from his body and condensed into a massive magic array over a kilometer wide.
Its surface was covered in countless runes representing the fourteen laws under his control.
The runes spun like the gears of a cosmic machine, dismantling the surrounding chaos into manageable structures.
Levi raised his right hand.
Then he clenched his fist toward the nearest construct.
The Law of Space activated instantly.
The region surrounding the asteroid-sized machine collapsed inward and compressed into a cube no larger than a fist.
The silver metal across its surface churned violently.
Countless mechanical arms attempted to tear apart the spatial prison.
Their efforts were futile.
Before the overwhelming authority of the Source of Dominion, such resistance was meaningless.
Levi did not destroy it.
Instead, he invoked the Law of Mind.
His consciousness transformed into countless golden threads and forcibly penetrated the machine’s core.
Immediately, he perceived the truth.
The so-called Cartographers were not purely mechanical entities.
They were components of a hive-mind network.
Each unit functioned as a node connected to a collective consciousness that shared instructions and data originating from the Beyonders.
The golden threads pierced through the outer firewall.
The defense system had clearly been designed by the Beyonders themselves and was more sophisticated than anything Levi had encountered among technological civilizations.
Unfortunately for it, complexity was irrelevant.
Under the authority of the Source of Dominion, the firewall was little more than paper.
Levi simply imposed a new rule from a higher level:
Within this region, all defensive systems are ineffective against me.
The firewall collapsed instantly.
His consciousness advanced unhindered into the Cartographer’s core database.
The space resembled an endless library.
Data streams flowed through the void, recording every experiment the Beyonders had conducted across the multiverse.
Levi saw tens of thousands of universe designations.
Each corresponded to a world that had already been—or soon would be—formatted.
His consciousness moved rapidly through the data in search of information regarding the Beyonders’ true location.
Then the entire hive network trembled.
The remaining two Cartographers had detected the intrusion.
Emergency defense protocols activated as they attempted to sever the compromised node.
Levi snorted.
The Concept of Greed erupted once more.
If they wanted to cut the connection, then he would simply consume the entire network.
A black vortex formed within his consciousness.
Like a starving cosmic beast, it opened an abyssal maw and bit directly into the hive’s core.
The network resisted fiercely.
Countless defensive programs transformed into torrents of data-blades and launched counterattacks.
It made no difference.
Greed did not negotiate.
It rewrote the network’s very definition of existence.
The concept of defense was forcibly erased.
The data torrents instantly collapsed upon contact with the vortex. fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
They attempted to flee.
Too late.
As Levi dug deeper into the network, he finally pieced together the Beyonders’ overall plan.
The Molecule Men scattered across countless universes served as energy cores.
The Beyonders observed the development of civilizations around them, gathering data and conducting experiments.
Eventually they would evaluate the results and decide whether each universe should be preserved or erased.
As for the Cartographers—
They were little more than cleanup crews.
Machines responsible for disposing of failed experiments and formatting discarded universes.
Just as Levi prepared to continue digging, he detected something unusual.
Deep within the hive network lay a specially encrypted region.
Its encryption differed entirely from standard Beyonder protocols.
There was an unmistakably artificial signature to it.
As though someone had intentionally installed a backdoor within the system.
Levi approached the encrypted zone.
Golden threads began analyzing its structure.
The instant they touched the outer shell, a familiar wave of green energy emerged.
Understanding struck immediately.
Doctor Doom.
The man hadn’t merely been hunting Molecule Men.
He had also been secretly infiltrating the Beyonders’ systems, collecting critical data regarding the destruction of all realities.
Levi chose not to force entry.
Instead, he left a mark of the Source of Dominion on the encrypted shell.
The mark functioned like a key.
It would allow him to track Doctor Doom in the future and potentially locate hidden information when the time came.
With that done, he began cleaning up.
The Concept of Greed devoured the core data of the entire hive network.
At the same time, it forcibly extracted the Beyonder energy from all three Cartographers.
The silver liquid metal emitted shrill screeches.
Mechanical limbs struggled wildly.
Against a multiversal-level being, such resistance was meaningless.
Levi squeezed every last drop of value from them.
Like extracting juice from fruit.
Within seconds, the three immense constructs became empty shells.
Their silver surfaces dulled.
Then the liquid metal crumbled into gray-black dust and scattered into the void.
Meanwhile, the Void Walkers within Levi’s Inner Universe feasted frantically upon the newly acquired energy.
Their population exploded from several thousand to well over ten thousand.
Most advanced to the middle levels of the Skyfather tier.
Several of the strongest leaders even showed signs of breaking into the higher tier.
Levi had no time to celebrate.
Universe-621 had entered its final stage of collapse.
The blue grid covering the sky flickered erratically.
The earth split apart, opening enormous chasms.
Dark crimson chaos energy poured from the bottomless fissures.
The entire universe resembled a machine operating beyond its limits.
Every gear was screaming.
Levi raised his right hand and tore through the void.
A golden rift opened before him.
Its destination was the command center of the Void Fortress.
He cast one final glance at the doomed universe.
Then he stepped through the portal.
The moment his figure disappeared, the spacetime structure of Universe-621 collapsed completely.
In a silent cosmic explosion, the universe disintegrated into dust.
Its remaining civilizations.
Its history.
Its final traces.
All were erased forever from the records of the multiverse.
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