Chapter 158 - Episode 21. God of Ashes (11)
Chapter 158: Episode 21. God of Ashes (11)
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Building stages, then destroying them again.
The Leader seemed to have repeated that work for a very long time.
“Leader.”
At Andersen’s call, the Leader’s head shifted slightly.
[Has it been five hundred years, Andersen?]
The two gods fell silent for a moment, as though reminiscing about old memories.
The Leader was looking at a destroyed miniature. It was a map reduced to ruins beyond repair.
It was the world Jaehwan had destroyed on the Sixth Floor.
[That was fun.]
Fun.
Was it really all right to describe those days that way?
Jaehwan naturally expected Andersen to get angry.
“Yes. It was.”
The Leader muttered as if Andersen’s response surprised him.
[You have changed. Back then, you were far closer to a human than a god.]
“I’m still the same. I just understand you a little better now.”
Andersen quietly looked at the ruined miniature.
“Thank you for taking Ethan, Justice, and Arteina under your wing.”
[In truth, I wanted to let them live longer. They were good gods.]
“They were good gods.”
Even before the enemy she had met again after five hundred years, Andersen’s voice remained calm. It was far more subdued than when she had met the Metaverse Six Gods or her old Companions.
Did ancient rage take on such a quiet color?
Or had Andersen simply stopped carrying that much resentment?
Either way, Jaehwan realized that Andersen had become someone different from before. The time she had spent climbing the Tower with Jaehwan had affected her too.
[Did you come to avenge your Companions?]
“Only half. The other half is revenge for my Followers.”
[I heard your Vicegerent and Followers became Dolls.]
“I know you weren’t the one who led it. You were always indifferent to things like that. Still, you’re the one responsible for the Alliance, and now you’ll have to bear that responsibility.”
[I have no excuse.]
“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to still be in this Tower. I thought someone like you would have already seen the Tower’s final floor.”
For the first time, the Leader’s fingers paused as he tended to the Tower.
[I have seen it.]
The miniature by the window did not include any scenery beyond the Eighth Floor.
The Ninth and Tenth Floors were not under the Leader’s jurisdiction.
“Is this Tower still as fun as it was back then?”
The Leader did not answer Andersen’s question. He only looked at Jaehwan and Andersen with an odd smile.
“I thought I would be angry when I saw you again.”
[But?]
“Now, you just look pitiful.”
Andersen stared silently at the Leader.
Even someone as powerful as him looked like a gardener tending small flowerpots while surrounded by miniatures.
The Leader said he handled the Driver’s work in the Driver’s stead.
If so, he too must get something in return for taking on that work.
“Even after paying such a great price, do you still have a question this Tower has not answered?”
[Some questions can never be answered. Even knowing that, one continues asking them.]
“You should start thinking about your final question.”
[Perhaps I have been waiting for that day.]
The Leader smiled and blew softly. The thin dust that had settled over the miniatures scattered like ash.
[Or perhaps I have been waiting for someone who would continue my question in my place.]
The Leader’s eyes were fixed on Jaehwan.
Meeting that gaze without a word, Jaehwan asked, “Why did you call me here?”
[Awakened One Jaehwan. You who seek the end of the 《Tree of Illusion》.]
The moment the Leader’s eyes shone blue, Jaehwan realized the Leader was looking into his Unique World.
Despite not using Sanctuary Manifestation, the Leader was seeing 「The World After the Fall」. He was clearly looking up at the bizarre eye floating in its sky.
[Why did you climb this Tower? Did you want others to acknowledge that your Worldview was right?]
Jaehwan felt a strange kinship with the man before him. It was similar to what he had felt when he met Samyeong Garam.
There was a certain air shared by those who had fiercely contemplated their own Worldviews.
The man before him was someone who wondered about the end of the world, just as Jaehwan did. Or perhaps someone who had once pursued the end of this world.
That was why Jaehwan could be honest.
“I came to find a friend.”
[A friend?]
“Unfortunately, it seems they aren’t in this Tower. So I intend to meet the Driver and ask a few questions.”
[What questions?]
“I want to ask about the ‘First Nightmare.’”
As though gauging Jaehwan’s intentions, the Leader stared into his eyes for a moment.
[Some questions possess great power simply by being asked. A question alone can destroy a world.]
“If a world could be destroyed by that, then it was fated to be destroyed from the start.”
The Leader smiled.
[That is true, but even the Driver could not answer such a question.]
“What do you mean?”
[Questions that are too great cannot be questions.]
Like stacking blocks, the Leader began piling the miniature sets one floor at a time. The First Floor, Second Floor, Third Floor, and Fourth Floor.
Once he assembled the layers of miniature sets, they became the shape of a Tower.
Suddenly, Jaehwan remembered the words he had seen long ago in Mulack’s Tower.
「In the end, every Tower of Nightmares is merely an imitation of the ‘First Nightmare’ at the summit of the 《Tree of Illusion》.」
The Leader continued.
[Great questions are too immense for any god to answer alone. That is why they must be divided. You must keep asking small questions, then smaller questions.]
Jaehwan suddenly remembered the days when he practiced Stab.
“Does that mean you have to stab at small things before you can stab at something big?”
[Put in your terms, perhaps.]
The Leader smiled as if Jaehwan’s phrasing amused him.
“Then I should stab at you first.”
[That is the smallest question before you now. Will the God of Ashes, ‘Eoduksi,’ be stronger or weaker than the God Slayer, ‘Jaehwan’?]
Jaehwan nodded. It truly was the question he wanted answered most right now.
[If you wish, I can tell you the answer now. Though if I were you, I would not seek that answer immediately.]
“Why?”
[Because you would not receive the right answer.]
Jaehwan almost asked, “Does that mean I’ll lose?” but stopped himself.
If the Leader simply thought Jaehwan would lose, he would not have used the words “right answer.”
Jaehwan asked something else.
“You said you went to the final floor.”
[Yes.]
“What question did you ask the Driver there?”
[I cannot tell you that.]
“It seems you didn’t receive the right answer either.”
At Jaehwan’s question, the Leader’s eyes trembled faintly.
[That is correct.]
“And that’s why you’re here, to climb to the final floor once more. Is that right?”
Perhaps feeling there was no point in continuing the conversation, the Leader immediately brought up the main subject.
[The reason I called you here is simple. Participate in ‘Climbing the Branches,’ which will be held in three days.]
“No.”
[You have no right to refuse. Threats will not work either. You may test that if you wish.]
The Leader declared that without even looking at Jaehwan.
Jaehwan steadied his breathing as he gripped Dokbul’s hilt.
Yet even as Jaehwan drew up his World Force, the Leader silently continued working on the miniature Tower.
Scenes from the Eighth Floor moved beneath the Leader’s fingertips.
Then, at some point, the Leader’s finger stopped at a single spot.
Jaehwan knew exactly where it had stopped.
Martial World Inn.
If Jaehwan drew Dokbul here and used 「Path of the Wave」, the Leader would crush that inn flat like a toy.
[You are very much like Andersen was five hundred years ago.]
The Leader continued as though he found this situation deeply entertaining.
[I saw the technique you used to defeat Russell. It was excellent, but it is not enough. In this 《Abyss》, there are at least ten beings who could kill you with a flick of a finger.]
“What are you trying to say?”
[I can see how you grew stronger. You are clearly the type who became powerful by refining one technique to its limit. Like someone who has repeated only a single question. You may be the person in this world best at asking one question, but you became so obsessed with it that you missed every other question you should have asked at the right time. Like someone who focused only on climbing this Tower quickly and missed every scene from the Second through Fifth Floors.]
“I didn’t come here to sightsee.”
[That is why you should have climbed while properly seeing this Tower. A Dream Demon’s Tower is like a work of art. There are things you can never discover unless you read it calmly from the beginning. Arrogant Awakened One, that is why I am giving you three days. I hope it will be enough time for you to prepare a few small questions.]
Jaehwan had never seen a god who talked this much.
Perhaps that was why he became a little curious.
Even if the Leader’s words were true, there was no reason for him to make such concessions for Jaehwan’s sake.
“Why are you giving me time to grow stronger?”
[Andersen likely already knows that you cannot face me as you are now.]
Jaehwan looked back at the crow sitting on his shoulder. Yet Andersen literally had the face of a crow, so there was no way to read her expression.
The Leader continued.
[Yet you answered my invitation because you trusted me. I respect that trust. You are very fortunate, Jaehwan, Pure God. Think of the history you have lived through as what saved you. Be grateful that you still have time to ask questions.]
With those words, Jaehwan felt the surrounding space distort. His vision lost its balance, as if the direction of a planet’s rotation had reversed.
Had he been struck by the Leader’s 「Setting」?
Just as he hurriedly tried to draw Dokbul, an enormous strain suddenly came over his body, and his body began moving on its own. Nausea rose within him as the scenery changed.
From the training hall to the corridor, then from the corridor to the colonnade.
When he finally came to his senses, Jaehwan realized he was standing before the ancient palace again.
“What? Didn’t I just go in?”
Yu Seolha, standing nearby, stared at Jaehwan with wide eyes. Imai beside her looked equally startled. The Clockmakers guarding the ancient palace entrance glared at Jaehwan as if asking why he was still there.
Then Jaehwan slowly, very slowly, understood what had happened to him.
His chest creaked.
Memories of the old 《Tower of Nightmares》 flooded in all at once.
But how?
Beastrein had clearly said that such a miracle was impossible anywhere in the universe.
“That is the ability of the Leader’s ‘Three Divine Artifacts.’ It is why he has never lost to anyone except the Seven Divine Thrones.”
Only the crow, who had shared that experience with Jaehwan, could explain what had happened to him.
“Leader Eoduksi can turn back time.”
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion