Chapter 169 - Episode 23. Driver (3)
Chapter 169: Episode 23. Driver (3)
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The Allies blinked blankly.
At first, they thought they had misheard.
Not an ‘Anonymous God,’ but an ‘anonymous Vicegerent’ had sponsored 500 trust?
[An anonymous Vicegerent has sponsored Jaehwan with 500 trust.]
They had not misheard. It was undeniably a sponsorship sent by an ‘anonymous Vicegerent.’
Jaehwan clenched the sponsored trust in his fist and crushed it into World Force. World Force born from someone’s faith sparked along Dokbul’s blade.
[The God of Gambling ‘Baccarat’ is startled.]
[The God of Arrogance ‘Menoeitius’ glares at the anonymous Vicegerent.]
[Multiple gods begin searching for the Vicegerent who made the sponsorship.]
A mere Vicegerent was pretending to be a god and making a sponsorship. Some of the outraged gods raised their voices harshly at the Vicegerents.
[Some gods vent their anger at the Vicegerent who has trespassed into the gods’ domain!]
Even then, the gods did not know. This was only a sign of what was to come.
[An anonymous Follower has sponsored Jaehwan with 500 trust.]
[An anonymous Follower has sponsored Jaehwan with 1,000 trust.]
[An anonymous Vicegerent has sponsored Jaehwan with 1,500 trust.]
[An anonymous Vicegerent has sponsored Jaehwan with 1,800 trust.]
The ones who had heard the Prayer the gods themselves had ignored were the Tower’s slaves.
The Followers and Vicegerents who had spent their lives serving as the gods’ hands and feet, fighting for them, were sending Jaehwan the trust they had earned with such hardship.
Then something truly astonishing happened.
[An anonymous Doll has sponsored Jaehwan with 100 trust.]
A dreadful silence descended in an instant, as though some enormous beast had appeared and swallowed the world whole.
Then.
[The God of Aging ‘Shiyu’ is startled.]
Starting with Shiyu’s message, the gods’ messages exploded across the channel.
[The God of Mortality ‘Thanatos’ doubts his own eyes.]
[The God of Flash ‘Rayray’ gapes.]
[The God of Appetite ‘Tam’ vomits the food they were eating.]
[The God of Arrogance ‘Menoeitius’ widens his eyes.]
·····
[Multiple gods are shocked by this unbelievable situation!]
A Doll had sponsored trust. It was impossible.
Unlike Vicegerents with souls and gods with wills, Dolls possessed nothing. So how could a Doll possibly...
The gods in the channel shouted at one another.
Messages from gods demanding to know whether this made any sense, asking whose Doll it was. Some gods even demanded refunds, saying they were worried about the Dolls they had bought from the Leader.
[A considerable number of gods demand to know what the hell is going on from the Leader!]
But there was no way the Leader could answer. Like everyone else, he was staring up at the empty air with his mouth hanging open.
[An anonymous Follower has sponsored Jaehwan with 1,000 trust.]
[An anonymous Doll has sponsored Jaehwan with 100 trust.]
[An anonymous Doll has sponsored Jaehwan with 500 trust.]
······.
The sponsorships continued through it all.
Some sent as little as 100 trust, while others sent as much as 5,000.
Runald muttered in an excited voice.
“Jaehwan-nim.”
Dolls could not defy a god’s orders. They lived their entire lives as the gods’ puppets, without emotions or wills of their own.
Yet the Dolls had sponsored Jaehwan.
How was that possible?
“I’m reminded of something you told me before.”
Jaehwan understood what Runald meant.
When they had visited Ethan’s village on the 〈Metaverse〉 Sixth Floor, Jaehwan had once told Runald a story about Prayer.
“There was a religious man from another country in the Tower of Nightmares I cleared. I heard that his homeland had devices that recited prayers for them.”
A ‘prayer device’ that would make a sound and turn simply because someone wound its spring. A music box holding someone’s small romance, made so that their Prayer could continue even after death.
Looking at the trust pouring down through the air like starlight, Runald said, “Maybe this is the Prayer the Dolls left behind while they were alive.”
Jaehwan silently looked up at the sight as he continued stabbing.
No soul became a Doll because it wanted to.
Perhaps every Doll had left behind a similar Prayer.
At the moment they became Dolls, they had etched something into their souls.
「Rage toward the gods. Hatred for the Tower.」
The Dolls’ Prayer, carried out despite defying even their own gods, piled upon Jaehwan’s soul like snow.
Vitality spread through his body once more, and the circuits of his World Force began turning with a harsh roar. The radiance of World Force thickened over Dokbul’s blade.
World Forces that were not his.
A legacy left behind by Dolls who had waited hundreds of years for this day alone.
Within those bitter traces, Jaehwan was overcome by a special sensation.
Desires passed down from entirely different Worldviews formed an incomprehensible harmony within him.
Then, for an instant, Jaehwan entered a different kind of 「Selflessness」 than before.
Rumble!
Perhaps sensing the unusual change rising from Jaehwan, the Allies who had been stabbing turned to one another.
“We can’t do this with our strength alone. Let’s give it all to him.”
“Let’s do it.”
“I don’t know whether it will help, but...”
One by one, the Allies began sending their World Force toward Jaehwan.
The World Force sent by the Vicegerents, Followers, and Dolls merged with that of the Allies. The radiance created by that unbalanced World Force soon clashed with Jaehwan’s own unique World Force, dividing into forces of light and darkness.
Tsssss.
To keep from being consumed by that enormous World Force, Jaehwan forcibly moved the two kinds of World Force.
At first, they repelled each other. Soon, though, they began fiercely rotating as they chased each other’s tails.
Jaehwan thought,
If this state lasted only a little longer, he felt as if he might understand something very important.
But the World Force sent by the Dolls had nearly reached its limit, and Jaehwan had reached the point where he had no choice but to release this power outside.
With regret, Jaehwan aimed Dokbul at the ceiling.
This technique had not originally been a ‘Stab.’
But Jaehwan, as he was now, could use it as a ‘Stab’ as well.
A technique possible only at this moment, beyond the power he could normally wield.
Jaehwan Style, First Form Arrangement,
「Star Stab」
Dokbul released World Force.
With the sensation of space twisting, a strange straight line surged toward the sky. In the blink of an eye, the line struck the ceiling and began crushing the entire surrounding space.
Jaehwan increased the output of his Stab and gritted his teeth.
Just a little more.
Silver flowed from Jaehwan’s nose and mouth.
The incoming sponsored trust was gradually decreasing. Perhaps the Dolls’ owners had taken action.
The burden on his arms steadily grew heavier, and the force of the Stab gradually weakened. Jaehwan did not give up until the very end, pouring out every last bit of World Force.
The exhausted Allies collapsed onto the floor. When even the gods’ messages finally stopped, Jaehwan halted his Stab and looked up at the ceiling.
Dazzling radiance swept across it. As time passed, the radiance slowly scattered, and the edges of the ceiling gradually came into view.
Disappointingly, the ceiling’s surface did not appear to have taken any serious damage.
Had he failed?
At that moment, Martis shouted.
“T-There!”
At the center of the radiance that had finally become visible.
Cracks spread across the ceiling like a spiderweb. The closer they came to the center, the wider the gaps between them became.
And finally, at the very center of the ceiling.
A small hole had formed where Star Stab had struck directly, as though a tiny meteorite had fallen there.
“Jaehwan-nim, let’s go!”
At Runald’s cry, the Allies squeezed out their remaining World Force and leaped into the sky.
Andersen reached the hole first. She exploded the World Force dwelling within the crow Doll and kept the opening from closing.
“Hurry!”
The Tower’s restorative power had activated, and the cracks in the ceiling were healing.
The Allies detonated all their remaining World Force and crossed the ceiling.
The messages of disbelieving gods mixed with messages from Followers cheering for the Allies.
Then.
For an instant, their vision seemed to shake. Red emergency lights appeared in the air.
[An error has occurred in the Tower’s System!]
[An error has occurred in the Tower’s System!]
[An error has occurred in the Tower’s System!]
The entire Tower shook violently.
As though the whole world had turned hostile toward Jaehwan, error messages began appearing in every direction, above, below, left, and right.
Realizing something was wrong, the Allies’ faces turned pale. Jaehwan’s expression hardened as he tightly gripped Dokbul.
This floor certainly had not been made to be cleared through such an abnormal method. But this was the only way available to him.
About a minute passed.
One by one, the emergency lights in the air went out. Then an unexpected message sounded.
[The Tower’s System has returned to normal.]
[Congratulations! You have arrived at the Tower’s final floor!]
Sighs escaped the Allies.
The error messages that had covered their surroundings had vanished as well.
When Jaehwan, finally able to catch his breath, turned around, he saw the Allies panting with exhausted faces. Runald, Karlton, Manri Shintong, Jin Eunsae, Rene, Martis...
Just before the hole in the ceiling closed, the last person to force his way through the narrow gap was the Leader. Having followed them up in a daze, the Leader stared at Jaehwan with eyes that looked almost mad.
They had finally arrived.
The Tower’s final floor, which they had only ever heard about.
The place where the Tower’s Driver resided, where they could fulfill their desired wishes.
The floor was covered in soft white feathers. The long-dreamed-of Tenth Floor resembled the stuffing of an expensive pillow.
Jaehwan put away Dokbul and slowly stepped forward.
Then a voice sounded from the air.
[I never imagined you would truly make it this far. And in record time, no less.]
A familiar voice.
Andersen spoke.
“Vertus.”
It was Vertus, the Attendant of the First Floor.
Vertus appeared, lightly looked over Jaehwan and the Allies, then let out a deep sigh.
[I believe I asked you to refrain from damaging the Tower any further.]
“We got up here anyway, didn’t we?”
[The ceiling of the Ninth Floor is made of imaginary metal that cannot be destroyed, yet you broke through it with physical force...]
Vertus shook their head as if they had had enough, then began leading Jaehwan onward.
[The Driver is waiting.]
As Vertus stepped ahead, the feathers covering the floor floated up in fluffy clumps, defying gravity.
Walking through that soft scenery, the Allies began speaking in excited voices as well. Martis was the first to speak.
“I never thought we would truly be able to reach the Tenth Floor.”
“The same goes for this old man.”
“I do not even need to make a wish. It is a great honor simply to have come here.”
Martis clasped both hands respectfully, then bowed with the expression of an ascetic who had completed a long pilgrimage.
Having made the 〈Metaverse〉 his home for so long, the Tenth Floor was no different from the ‘end of the world’ to him.
Jaehwan spoke to Martis.
“It is only the top of one Tower.”
At Jaehwan’s calm words, Manri Shintong gave a hollow laugh.
“That is true, but you are the only one who can say it that way. For most gods, even this ‘Tenth Floor’ is far too high.”
“...”
“This Tower’s final floor has been sealed for six hundred years. Almost nothing is known about its Tenth Floor. Of course, there is one man among us who already knows about it.”
Everyone turned to the Leader at those words.
The Leader, suddenly receiving their attention, frowned for a moment before he began speaking.
“I know what you are expecting, but the ‘Driver’ is not some kind of reward fairy.”
“What do you mean?”
“It means you should not expect someone who has driven this Tower for over a thousand years to be sane.”
A few of the Allies swallowed hard.
The Leader continued.
“You had better choose your questions carefully. Otherwise...”
At that moment, someone cut the Leader off.
“Mmph... mmph?”
Since when had it been there? A gag had been placed in the Leader’s mouth.
The Leader struggled desperately to pull the gag free, but it only tightened further around his jaw.
Even if this was the 〈Metaverse〉, what kind of authority could forcibly silence the ‘Leader’?
Martis and Manri Shintong looked around in alarm, then tightly shut their mouths. They fell silent as if they had put on gags themselves.
Soon, Vertus vanished. An antique-looking Door appeared in the empty air.
No one had told them, but the instant they saw it, they all knew.
Beyond this Door was the Driver of the 〈Metaverse〉.
Then the one man whom no one could ever gag opened his mouth.
“Open the Door.”
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion