Chapter 176 - Episode 24. Ancient God (1)
Chapter 176: Episode 24. Ancient God (1)
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「At the Eighth Site, 〈Caspion〉, there is a crater 248 kilometers in diameter. According to one theory, the crater was formed roughly 210,000 years ago, exactly when the Three Ancient Gods vanished from the 《Abyss》.
Dream demons claim that the Abyss’s Ninth Site once stood where this crater now lies, and that it bears the traces of a great battle between Deus and Gestalt, who were once members of the Three Ancient Gods.
Even now, some radical dream demons advocate the provocative hypothesis that Deus’s and Gestalt’s Followers continue the battle from 210,000 years ago throughout the 《Abyss》. Nothing has yet confirmed this claim.
This crater is now called the 〈Great Forest〉 and has been designated one of the 《Abyss》’s Eight Forbidden Zones.」
“Excerpt from 『A History of Abyss Wars』.”
* * *
When Jaehwan opened his eyes again, the first thing he saw was an unfamiliar ceiling. It was a sturdy wooden ceiling built from old-fashioned martial world materials.
He groaned and sat up. World Force began circulating through his stiff joints. His body must have been badly damaged, because pain surged through him every time World Force flowed along his bloodstream.
It was hardly strange. This was the first time he had fallen from such a height. He had thought it would not be surprising if his soul had shattered into pieces, so it was a miracle that he had gotten away with only this much. The other Companions who had stood guard must have reduced the impact.
“Oh, you are awake.”
Manri Shintong entered through the door.
Jaehwan lightly rolled his shoulders and asked, “Where am I?”
“One of the safehouses operated by the Black Shop.”
“Are we still inside the 〈Metaverse〉?”
“You wrecked the 〈Metaverse〉 yourself, did you not? This is a branch in 〈Caspion〉.”
Manri Shintong drew back the safehouse curtains. Outside the window stood the remains of the 〈Metaverse〉, with only scattered framework pillars left behind.
“Does it feel real now?”
Jaehwan gave no answer.
The 〈Metaverse〉 had fallen in the end. That long virtual world had collapsed, and the Anonymous Gods had been freed.
But was that truly a good thing for the gods? It was a question with no answer.
As if he had read Jaehwan’s thoughts, Manri Shintong spoke first.
“I am not trying to blame you. If anything, I am grateful. Perhaps the beings of the Metaverse finally have a chance to truly live now. The other gods likely feel the same.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“About two days. A lot happened during that time. People are already evaluating the achievement you accomplished everywhere. There are even idle folk trying to give you a new epithet. It will probably be quite noisy once you are up and about.”
Manri Shintong brought in a tray of king dumplings and clear soup.
“Your Companions are waiting outside, but eat first.”
“Is this soup a new menu item?”
“Come to think of it, I figured it might still be too early to look for a Disciple.”
Manri Shintong looked somehow embarrassed.
“I developed a chicken broth this time. Now that we are outside the 〈Metaverse〉, I need to find another way to make a living.”
Jaehwan quietly looked down at the chicken broth before picking up his spoon and taking a mouthful.
“You will not go under for a while.”
It was the taste of real food, something he had not eaten in a long time.
* * *
Outside the safehouse stood a small manor. Above its entrance, Manri Shintong’s handwriting read Martial World Inn. It seemed he planned to use the manor as the Black Shop’s main branch from now on.
The inn was apparently already operating. Guests sat at food stalls across from the building, eating their meals. The gatekeepers took orders, while Baeko handled the payments.
The guests kept stopping Baeko to ask similar questions.
“Is the ‘God Slayer’ really staying in this manor?”
Baeko grinned.
“Eat first. If you are lucky, you might see him.”
“Ah, no, it is not like I desperately want to see him.”
The inn was already buzzing with talk of the 〈Metaverse〉’s collapse.
“Did the ‘God Slayer’ really destroy the 〈Metaverse〉?”
“I am telling you, he did. I saw it with my own eyes. He went whoosh, whoosh with his Stabs, and the Metaverse split apart with a crash...”
“Oh my god.”
Seeing how things were going, it seemed the Black Shop would not be going out of business outside the 〈Metaverse〉 either.
With a lighter heart, Jaehwan turned and headed straight for the manor’s rear garden. Runald and Karlton stood side by side there, bare-chested as they practiced Stabs into the air.
“Am I doing it right like this?”
Karlton answered Runald’s question like a stubborn teacher.
“No. Like this, like this.”
Jaehwan said, “You are both wrong.”
The two brightened, turned toward Jaehwan, and cried out.
“Fortress Lord-nim?”
“Jaehwan-nim!”
Jaehwan quickly stepped back from the two rushing toward him.
“Do not come too close.”
He looked over Runald, who was grinning, and Karlton, who was smiling softly, before dropping onto a bench in the garden. Runald hurried over to sit beside Jaehwan, but Karlton caught Runald by the shoulder and shook his head. He had likely seen Jaehwan’s expression.
They quietly watched the view of the collapsed Tower beyond the garden wall.
According to Manri Shintong, the World Force taken from the Driver had restored some of the souls in the Tower. Jaehwan did not know what had caused that miracle.
There was only one thing he knew for certain.
Because of his choice, someone would never be able to leave that Tower.
The quiet whirlpool in Jaehwan’s eyes settled.
After a while, he spoke.
“You have grown stronger, Karlton.”
“You have changed a little, Fortress Lord-nim.”
Jaehwan raised his head. Karlton gave a faint smile and added, “For the better.”
A breeze from beyond the manor passed between them.
The noisy voices of Followers. Songs bellowed by people pretending to be drunk.
“It is like Gorgon’s Northern Market Street.”
“It is.”
Some died, while others survived. Those who survived spoke freely of death as the price of survival. It was peaceful.
Jaehwan thought about that peace for a moment.
Would gods who had lived another thousand years, another ten thousand years, be different? Had they found a better way to endure this peace? He did not know.
Even Andersen had wandered for centuries because she could not forget her dead Companions.
“Where are the others?”
No sooner had he asked than Andersen’s crow came flying over from beyond the garden. Andersen was accompanied by the Followers she had recovered from the Tower. They had all been Followers from the Sixth Floor village.
It seemed not every villager had returned to life.
According to Manri Shintong, almost no souls that had been dead for more than five hundred years had been revived.
Andersen spotted Jaehwan, flapped over, and began chattering away. She repeatedly asked whether his body was all right and whether he hurt anywhere, then proudly slapped her fluffy chest.
“Ahem, what do you think? This body has quite a few Followers now.”
Then she carefully checked his reaction before adding,
“Though I am still living off your Worldview for now.”
Watching her, Jaehwan absentmindedly began, “If you want...”
It was not truly Jaehwan’s will that had swallowed Andersen’s existence. Andersen had tried to use God Devouring on Jaehwan while he was unconscious, only to be swallowed in return.
If he simply expelled Andersen from his Unique World, perhaps she could return to acting as a god in her own right.
Jaehwan shook his head.
“Why, why? What is it!”
This little god still needed to suffer a little longer.
At least for a little while longer.
“Where is your Vicegerent?”
“Still inside your Unique World. Her memories have not completely returned.”
Jaehwan thought of Rachel Young, Andersen’s Vicegerent.
Ethan had said her soul was not completely damaged yet, so she could possibly recover. Had she simply been unlucky?
Still, Andersen’s voice was not especially dark. Rachel’s condition must have improved considerably compared to before.
As Jaehwan fell into thought, Runald and Andersen took turns telling him what had happened.
The first topic he heard concerned those who had disappeared from among the Allies on the Tenth Floor.
“The Leader was the first to leave.”
Jaehwan had expected as much, since he could not sense the Leader’s World Force nearby. No longer the Leader of the ‘Alliance,’ he would have had to flee quickly to preserve his life. Many groups throughout the 《Abyss》, including the 「Rupture」 and the Seven Divine Thrones, were after him.
“Yu Seolha and Jin Eunsae appear to be gone too.”
“Yes. They left right away to catch the Leader. Eunsae left you a message, but...”
Runald hesitated, looking as though he did not want to pass it along.
“Eunsae said that since they owe you a debt, they will answer one call from you. Though I do not know if we will ever need that brat’s help.”
Jin Eunsae seemed to have developed quite a rivalry with him.
“And Rene and Martis are... They are coming now.”
Rene and Martis entered through the garden gate.
* * *
Rene drank a cup of Baekhwa liquor Manri Shintong had brought, then asked in a slightly tipsy voice, “You already know who I really am, right?”
It was funny to see her pretend to be drunk when she would not get intoxicated, but Jaehwan nodded anyway. Just as he was not a novice, he had realized long ago that Rene was no ordinary being.
“My real name is Minerva. Minerva, the God of Fate. You may have heard of me.”
Perhaps because she had revealed her identity, even her manner of speaking and tone felt different.
“Rene is the Goddess Minerva? The Minerva who runs the 《Monthly Fortune Store》?”
Runald, who had been eavesdropping nearby, made a great fuss.
Andersen, on the other hand, appeared displeased, as if she had already known Minerva’s identity.
“Why reveal that all of a sudden? I was kind enough to pretend I did not know.”
Minerva smiled without a word. She flicked the cup on the table several times with her finger, then spoke again.
“I knew from the First Floor that you were not a novice.”
“I know.”
“Because I needed to use you.”
“I know.”
“I intended to become the Driver.”
This time, Jaehwan did not say he knew.
Minerva continued.
“You said I should live in ‘Today’ rather than ‘Yesterday,’ but there is no hope left in this 《Abyss》. The gods became corrupt long ago, and their Worldviews project nothing but naked desire. Followers abuse their rights to deceive the few good gods remaining, while Cultivators are busy turning gods against one another to sell their Products.”
It was the reality of the 《Abyss》, though not one Jaehwan had only just learned.
“It is truly strange. It has been an unimaginably long time since 《Big Brother》 intervened in the affairs of the Abyss, yet the world has become harsher than it was when 《Big Brother》 ruled. The gods gave up, and the Followers despaired. No one in this world believes in real salvation anymore. Even that ‘salvation’ is only another show in this Abyss. This is not a world that can be changed because one person tries to change it. I do not even know whether the gods want to change.”
As Minerva spoke, she tapped the drone buzzing around her shoulder with her fingertip. Its camera was still broken, so it seemed completely useless for broadcasting now.
Jaehwan asked, “Is that why you tried to take over the 〈Metaverse〉?”
“That was the plan. It has all come to nothing now.”
Andersen cut in after listening to her.
“Why are you so pessimistic? Did the whole world end just because the 〈Metaverse〉 collapsed?”
It was only the destruction of one Tower. Of course, no one here could truly call that Tower merely one Tower, but it was still only the world of a single Tower. It was far too small to speak of the fate of the world.
Minerva’s reaction, though, was a little strange.
“I read Fate.”
“What Fate?”
Naturally, the God of Fate read Fate.
Some Fates were small, while others were great. Some foretold a person’s death, while others foretold the decline of a group.
And some Fates...
“The 《Abyss》 will soon be destroyed.”
Sometimes foretold the end of an entire world.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion