Chapter 200 - Episode 27. Mad God (2)
Chapter 200: Episode 27. Mad God (2)
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La-Hamad, who had brought Jaehwan’s Allies here, was the only member of the Longevity Clan qualified as a ‘Great Warrior.’ Even at a glance, the presence they carried was overwhelming, beyond comparison to the other members of the Longevity Clan.
Led by La-Hamad, Jaehwan ventured deeper into the village.
The open-air baths continued along tributaries running through the forest of black leaves. Naked Longevity Clan warriors sat sweating beside the steaming waters.
A few warriors looked toward Jaehwan and La-Hamad, then called out.
“Great Warrior, where are you going?”
“The path of Great Souls.”
“And what is that brat beside you?”
“One who will realize Ouroboros.”
“I see. Ouroboros.”
It was a conversation Jaehwan could not understand.
The word ‘Ouroboros,’ in particular, seemed to carry a great many meanings for them. It was difficult to grasp what it truly meant.
“May you have good fortune.”
“You should soak in the open-air baths.”
A few warriors offered Jaehwan advice. Some laughed heartily at the sight of his naked body, but most remained focused on their own bathing.
They absorbed moisture from the warmth of the springs, scrubbed off their grime, then entered the water again.
Some even ate their own grime, like insects consuming their shed shells after a Molt. Strangely, their grime was white, like shaved frozen milk. It looked clean enough that Jaehwan almost thought it might be all right to eat.
Others sat cross-legged in the water, lost in thought.
Following La-Hamad, Jaehwan asked, “Are you always bathing?”
[Myoku?]
La-Hamad tilted their head.
Either there was a problem with the translation, or they had no word for “bathing.” It was strange. Everyone was bathing, yet no one knew the word for it?
Once Jaehwan explained with a few simple gestures, La-Hamad nodded in understanding.
“Ah, you mean Molting.”
“Molting?”
“Taking off Clothes.”
“Taking off Clothes? What does that mean?”
La-Hamad did not answer right away, so Jaehwan asked again.
“By Clothes, do you mean grime? Or is it a metaphor?”
Even as he asked, Jaehwan felt foolish. Naturally, it had to carry some deeper meaning than that.
La-Hamad said, “Clothes are Clothes.”
“I thought you might say something like that.”
“The more Clothes you take off, the higher the grade of your soul becomes. Your World Force grows stronger, and you can survive without gods.”
Clothes.
Come to think of it, Jaehwan had recently gone through many complicated things related to this concept of Clothes.
“Do you know a god named Andersen?”
La-Hamad did not answer.
Jaehwan asked again, “Were you the ones who taught that god the Setting of 「Naked」?”
La-Hamad gave an eerie smile.
[Ouroboros.]
Anyone can strip naked.
No one can strip naked.
The words were translated with two meanings again.
Jaehwan frowned. “What exactly does Ouroboros mean?”
La-Hamad lightly shook their head and walked ahead of him.
They had no intention of answering.
La-Hamad’s pace gradually quickened.
That was when Jaehwan heard a voice from somewhere. At first, he thought it was the sound of the open-air spring’s tributaries flowing. Then he thought it was birdsong.
Listening closely, though, he realized it was a song.
No matter how much you shed, Clothes never end.
As each strips away the other’s Clothes,
Neither gods nor worlds matter.
Jaehwan listened closely.
It sounded as though the entire Great Forest had become one enormous mouth, singing. Every member of the Longevity Clan soaking in the springs had closed their eyes.
Jaehwan realized this was the Longevity Clan’s song.
A song.
He remembered Andersen’s song.
Then familiar lyrics followed.
After stripping the last friend,
The Naked God finally returned home.
His home was filled only with his friends’ Clothes.
Looking at those Clothes, the Naked God said,
The Naked God.
This was the song Andersen had sung.
He had expected it ever since he saw every member of the tribe was naked. Andersen must have learned this song from them long ago. The reason she had sent Jaehwan to the 《Great Forest》 was likely so he could meet them.
Jaehwan slowly blinked and focused on the song.
Then it felt as though Andersen was singing beside him.
I am lonely.
So terribly lonely.
The Naked God said so,
Then picked up his friends’ Clothes and put them on.
One set of the Naked God’s Clothes.
Two sets of the Naked God’s Clothes.
At last, the Naked God was wrapped in Clothes.
The lonely Naked God said,
The reason this world is so unhappy.
That is,
Because we are all wearing Clothes.
Because none of us can take off Clothes.
The song was rough at times, ferocious at others. Sometimes it was sorrowful, sometimes melancholy.
No one can take off Clothes.
That alone is the truth.
The song continued for some time before La-Hamad stopped walking. Looking at Jaehwan, La-Hamad said,
[Nas, Akinio.]
“You must go alone from here.”
[Dioblivio.]
“Remember.”
[Ouroboros.]
“Clothes must exist.”
“Clothes can never exist.”
* * *
Jaehwan continued toward the inner part of the open-air baths where La-Hamad had led him. With every step, the scenery around him took on a strangely familiar shape.
This was not a simple open-air bath.
In one spring, blade-like winds carrying sharp World Force blew against him. In another, a terrible cold rushed up from beneath his feet.
He had seen this kind of structure somewhere before.
The order was different, but Jaehwan had definitely passed through gates with this structure before. After passing several more open-air baths, he realized what they resembled.
Eight Gates of Hell.
The gates of the magic Sirwen had used on Jaehwan, ‘Eight Gates of Hell.’
A brutal illusion spell, whose eighth and final gate had given him 『Record of the Abyss』, Mulack Armelt’s memory.
Jaehwan instinctively knew that Mulack had once walked this path of open-air baths. Mulack had visited the Great Forest. Perhaps Mulack had walked through these springs and created Eight Gates of Hell.
After walking for some time, the temperature of the baths began rising sharply.
Fever Hell.
Fever Hell should originally have been the second gate of the Eight Gates of Hell, but it seemed to serve as the final one here.
At the end of the open-air bath, he saw a Longevity Clan warrior leisurely soaking amid the steam.
For the first time, Jaehwan stopped when he saw the aura rippling through the heat.
The World Pressure flowing from the warrior’s entire body was powerful enough to rival even the Seven Divine Thrones. Even Maiad, after revealing their true strength, did not seem capable of comparing.
Was that the ‘Mad God’?
World Force alone could not reveal their identity. When the difference was too great, the weaker side could hardly grasp the stronger side’s power at all. It was like an ant being unable to fully comprehend the existence of a human.
“Are you the leader?”
The leader did not answer.
Their face could not be seen clearly through the steam. Jaehwan could not tell what expression they wore, or even what posture they held. He could only feel that they existed there.
Then, at some point, the leader’s shadow moved.
It was a gesture, almost like a beckoning motion.
Were they telling him to come closer?
After hesitating, Jaehwan approached the open-air bath where the leader was soaking. The moment he stepped in, terrible pain swept over him.
It was not pain that could be described as simply hot.
His feet, his legs, perhaps his entire soul felt as though they would be cooked whole. Even Ignis’s 「Crimson Flame Tribulation」, which Karavan had bragged about so often, did not seem capable of becoming this hot.
Jaehwan did not stop.
One step, then another.
The bath grew deeper and hotter with every step. Jaehwan moved forward with only his head barely above the surface. Before long, he realized that what surrounded him was not water.
Water could not possibly be this hot.
I am not getting any closer.
He had walked a hundred steps, perhaps more, yet the distance between him and the leader had not changed at all. It felt as though he were running on an endless treadmill.
Even covering the surface of his soul form with World Force had reached its limit.
The boiling liquid melted Jaehwan’s soul form, then began seeping inside. Within the hellishly hot bath, his consciousness gradually blurred.
It was absurd.
He had struggled so hard to get here, only to die in a hot spring.
There was no comedy more ridiculous than that.
Yet that tragicomedy was Jaehwan’s reality.
When strength left his legs, his body floated in the bath. Hot liquid rushed into his body through his nose and ears.
His consciousness was already half gone. Even the sensation of heat gradually faded.
This is comfortable.
Maybe I could just let go.
A heedless warmth loosened his entire body.
Just as his consciousness was about to disappear, he heard voices from somewhere again.
「Hey, are you doing this again?」
「This guy seems to be running out of grit. Will he be okay?」
「We picked him because he had the most grit out of all of us. Who else would perform Stabs ten billion times?」
「Hey, I could do that much too.」
He had heard voices like these before.
When had it been?
When he cleared Hell of Self within Eight Gates of Hell?
When he had just reached 「Hypothesis」 and opened Creation?
Or when he fought Maiad for the last time?
Whatever the case, one thing was certain. He had never heard their voices as clearly as he did now.
「Please take better care of yourself, friend. This time, of all things, it is an open-air bath?」
「Do you think we will help you again? Huh? Do you think some amazing miracle will happen again, where power suddenly surges up from nowhere and solves every crisis?」
「Do you think this is some shonen manga? You cannot just charge ahead blindly and expect everything to work out. Reality is ruthless. You learned that with Maiad, so you know by now, right?」
Their words pierced Jaehwan’s chest.
He hurriedly shook his head and gasped for air.
He could not give up here. He would never give up.
「Oh, you are coming to your senses pretty well.」
「That will not be enough. What can he do with such weak World Force?」
「Hey, beg. If you beg, I... no, we will give you power. Hmm, no. How about giving us control outright?」
Unconsciously, Jaehwan shook his head.
「Damn it, I told you the problem started when we decided to support a stubborn blockhead like this!」
「Give up already, you bastard!」
Jaehwan still did not yield.
He forced himself upright again. He struggled to take even one more step.
His body would not listen. The shadow of death flickered before him.
Then the voices came again.
「Damn it, fine, I lose. Yeah, I admit it, ‘me.’」
「There is really no helping guys named Jaehwan.」
「Hey, who wants to support him this time?」
Those were the last words Jaehwan heard before he lost consciousness.
A moment later, something wrapped around the surface of his soul began to loosen and peel away.
Grime, a shell, or a skin?
It did not matter what it was called.
Its name was unimportant.
It peeled away, and the shed pieces crumbled into powder with a soft crackle before being absorbed back into Jaehwan.
Warm energy wrapped around him from somewhere.
Jaehwan knew this feeling.
It was similar to when the thousands of Jaehwans he had met at the final gate of Eight Gates of Hell were absorbed into him, allowing him to finally open Creation.
It was an intensely lonely, solitary feeling, yet warm.
His World Force had increased by at least twice as much. His soul became full, and strength returned to his entire body.
Was this what it felt like when one layer of skin was shed and a new one grew in its place?
When Jaehwan slowly opened his eyes, he saw a man’s face right in front of him.
Was that man the leader... the ‘Mad God’?
The figure reflected in Jaehwan’s eyes was not the leader.
La-Hamad stood there, wearing an enigmatic smile.
[Nas, Ouroboros.]
“You have taken off Clothes.”
“You have put on Clothes.”
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