Chapter 106 - Episode 15. God and Believers (2)
Chapter 106: Episode 15. God and Believers (2)
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The tail end of the crowd disappeared, and at last, the detention center’s doors closed. The overseers who had finished guiding the souls passed Jaehwan, making petty jokes.
“What do you think? See anyone useful this time?”
“They all looked weak as hell. At best, they’ll be sent to a labor camp. They’re no good as combat Followers.”
“Well, they did fail to clear the tower...”
The retreating overseers vanished toward the checkpoint.
Jaehwan did not speak until quite some time later.
“Andersen.”
Andersen tensed slightly at the faint anger in his voice.
[Yes?]
“How many 「Followers」 can someone take?”
* * *
The inside of the detention center was dark and damp. Groans could be heard everywhere. Yoonhwan blinked his heavy eyelids and looked around. People with confused expressions glanced at one another and murmured.
“Ugh... Where are we...?”
“You’re those damned unorthodox-sect bastards, aren’t you? Where the hell have you taken me?”
“Is this the Asterium Continent? Someone, please tell me!”
“Is anyone here from Pangaea?”
Souls cried out from all over the place. When the commotion did not subside, the guards finally stepped in themselves. The noise died down immediately after a monk in novice robes, who had been ranting about unorthodox sects and Blood Demons, lost consciousness.
“This isn’t the martial world, the Central Plains, or some continent with a common name like Pangaea or Asterium. So shut up, unless you want to die.”
That was all the head guard said. Yet with those few words, the noise spreading through the room fell silent, as if someone had flipped a switch.
Soon, the detention center guards began assigning rooms to the souls one by one. Yoonhwan was also led away by a guard and placed in a cell.
Why had this happened?
Yoonhwan had no idea what was happening to him.
He had been dragged into this unknown place exactly one week ago.
...Hadn’t the world been destroyed?
He did not know why that question came to mind. His head hurt as though it were splitting apart. The more he tried to remember, the farther his memories slipped away.
Then, one name came to mind.
Jaehwan.
It was the name of someone he did not know.
None of his close friends had that name. If he searched through his childhood memories, he might have known a few people called Jaehwan, but the name did not seem to refer to any of them.
Yoonhwan looked at the several people assigned to the same cell. Their eyes were all unfocused. One of them was a woman whose face somehow looked familiar. No matter how hard he thought, he could not remember her name. Yoonhwan stared at her face and curled himself into a ball.
Cold.
The chill had become especially severe after he entered the 《Abyss》. It crept through his entire body, making him shiver.
As time passed, Yoonhwan gradually realized that it was not simply cold.
It felt as if the world was crumbling away from the edges of his vision.
Anxiety gripped him, as though everything around him would collapse like shattered glass at any moment. The fear that his existence would burst like an insect, as though he had entered the deep sea under crushing pressure.
His teeth chattered as his shoulders trembled. Then Yoonhwan noticed that he had clasped his hands together. It was the posture people on Earth usually took when seeking a transcendent being.
But Yoonhwan did not know whom he should seek now.
“Jaehwan.”
Without realizing it, Yoonhwan murmured the name. He repeated it again and again, as if it were a god’s True Name.
Then warmth began to spread through one corner of his heart. It was modest and small, yet unmistakable. Warmth enough to protect him.
A person’s back began to appear in his mind.
It was close enough that he could reach out and touch it.
Then...
“294-163134.”
Yoonhwan’s thoughts shattered.
“294-163134.”
Only after a moment did Yoonhwan realize that someone was calling him. The head guard stood beyond the bars.
“294-163134. A 「god」 has come to take you.”
Yoonhwan lifted his head.
A god?
A gray-haired man standing beside the head guard in the darkness beyond the bars opened his mouth.
“This one came from the 「Master」’s tower?”
“That is certain. The Dream Demons from the Association guaranteed it, so there is no doubt.”
The head guard grinned and added,
“Unfortunately, he failed to clear it, but he still reached the ninety-eighth floor. I heard he did not fall into any of the traps the Master set up.”
“Are there no others?”
“There is one more woman. She came from the same tower as this one... That woman reportedly reached the seventy-sixth floor.”
The head guard spoke while looking at the woman leaning against the detention center wall behind Yoonhwan.
“The seventy-sixth floor is borderline.”
“But she is quite beautiful. Her value as a combat Follower may be lower, but...”
The gray-haired man seemed to deliberate as he looked toward the woman.
“Are those two all? There should have been more.”
“I heard the Dream Demon Association did not send up the rest. These two were the only ones whose Memory Covers failed to function properly.”
The gray-haired man nodded, seemingly satisfied.
“Fine. I’ll take them. I’ll buy both the man and the woman.”
“Will you? The payment will be...?”
“Three thousand trust per person.”
The man took several gleaming crystals from his robe and handed them over. The head guard inspected their quality from every angle, then smiled in satisfaction.
“That is about right.”
As the head guard opened the barred door, he said,
“I say this every time out of caution, but today’s transaction...”
“Don’t worry. This isn’t our first deal.”
“That is true. Then please take care.”
Once Yoonhwan and the woman stepped out, the head guard locked the barred door behind them and disappeared into the darkness.
Yoonhwan looked up blankly at the gray-haired man. Seeing the man from this close made him feel entirely different.
“Let’s go.”
Light poured into Yoonhwan’s world.
A god stood before him.
* * *
[So you want to save that “friend,” huh?]
Andersen let out a quiet sigh as she looked through the memories Jaehwan had passed to her.
[I’ll answer your earlier question first. There is no limit to the number of 「Followers」 you can accept. From now on, you can take as many Followers as you want.]
‘I see.’
[Wait, where are you going?]
As always, there was not a trace of hesitation or fear in Jaehwan’s steps. When Andersen saw where those steps were headed, she cried out.
[No! No! Hey!]
She was so desperate that she repeated herself.
Jaehwan asked in an indifferent voice.
“Why?”
[You’re about to smash up the detention center, aren’t you?]
“I’m only going to get my friend back.”
[That means the same thing! If you do that, you’re finished. Do you know how many Vicegerents of high-grade gods are here? Are you going to fight all of 〈Caspion〉?]
Vicegerents of high-grade gods, Caspion.
Since when had he ever cared about such things before acting?
“It doesn’t matter.”
It had been the same in 《Chaos》. He had not hesitated to face all of Gorgon, nor had he so much as blinked when the Generals were said to be coming.
[No, wait! I told you, you cannot use World Force here! Do you understand what I’m saying? You cannot fight in this place at all!]
Jaehwan was already heading toward the detention center. Before long, the guards stationed nearby blocked his path.
“What is this? Civilian Followers are forbidden past this point.”
“Move.”
At the same time, terrifying World Force erupted from Jaehwan’s entire body. Its killing intent was enough to draw every eye nearby in an instant.
Yoonhwan.
Including the time spent using the Tower of Nightmares in 《Chaos》, it had been more than two thousand years since Jaehwan last saw him. Yet the moment he saw that face again, old memories returned as vividly as if they had happened yesterday.
Memories from before he Awakened, when he had still been human.
Memories of the Companions who climbed the Tower of Nightmares with him.
At the center of those memories was Smile Knight Kim Yoonhwan.
Kim Yoonhwan.
His only Companion, who had climbed with him to the final ninety-eighth floor.
There was something Jaehwan wanted to ask.
Why did you not regress then? Why did you not regress and try to live a new life, like the other Companions? Why did you...
“If you don’t move.”
I’ll stab you.
Yet just as Jaehwan moved to stab with his sword without hesitation...
Tzzzzzzzzzzz!
His hand trembled as if it had been electrocuted. With a hiss, his World Force went out.
As Jaehwan stared blankly at his hand, the guards replied listlessly.
“If you’re done with your little performance, get lost.”
Why?
Something unmistakable had interfered with him.
Andersen? No. He slowly looked around, but he could not sense any great being capable of obstructing him.
[I told you.]
Even so, something overwhelmingly clear had stopped him from drawing his sword.
[No one can fight here.]
* * *
At the same time, something unusual was happening in Caspion.
〈World Force Suppression Bureau〉.
It was an organization created by the powerful gods staying in Caspion, each sending one Follower to preserve the safety of the Site. No god or Vicegerent could activate a “combat Setting” in Caspion’s city center because of the Giant Setting created by the World Force Suppression Bureau, 「World Force Seal」.
But today...
“Kueeeek!”
“Kuaaagh!”
Something went wrong with that seal.
“What is going on?”
The Bureau Director, who had rushed over after being summoned, had gone pale.
“What in the...”
The sight inside the department was horrific.
Followers who had been taking turns supplying World Force to the Giant Setting, 「World Force Seal」, had collapsed while vomiting silver blood.
“How many are like that?”
“E-Eighty, Director!”
“When? Why?”
“It has not even been ten minutes. An abnormal energy reaction occurred near the Caspion detention center...”
It was impossible.
The 「World Force Seal」 was a Setting maintained by one hundred Followers serving different gods, each taking turns supplying World Force.
Its durability had never collapsed to this extent.
“What is this?”
Half of the Followers had collapsed a month earlier as well. But that had happened when Vicegerents of high-grade gods fought fiercely as a group. Unless a World Force storm of that magnitude had struck, the 「World Force Seal」 could not possibly have suffered such damage.
“Director, the Disaster Level has been reported!”
A staff member rushed in, out of breath, and began their report. Soon after, the Disaster Level appeared on the main screen.
Disaster Level 8.
Level eight out of ten. When high-grade gods clashed six months ago, it had only fluctuated between levels six and seven. But level eight?
The director’s expression hardened, and he immediately gave orders.
“Request support from the high-grade gods. Dispatch a battalion. Everyone must have World Force Grade 3 or higher.”
Footnotes:
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