Episode 516 The Last Story (4)
Final layer.
Is it because instead of using the ‘simple ascension device’ arranged by the Tower of Trials they destroyed the final floor itself and forced themselves out?
In fact after climbing the Tower of Trials it was as if I had passed the final floor but the final floor trial clear judgment did not appear.
‘I guess so.’
what.
I just thought it would be like that.
It doesn’t make sense since the Tower of Trials didn’t set the condition for clearing the trials on the 60th floor in the first place.
As if that wasn’t enough didn’t they destroy the ‘Simple Ascension Mechanism’ which can be said to be a masterpiece created by the Tower of Trials with sacred <Death>?
It was also understandable that the challenger’s status was preserved due to the failure to clear the trial.
‘what. Even so even if your status as a challenger belonging to the Tower of Trials is intact you can no longer clear the trials so there is no reason to stay any longer.’
Of course regardless of understanding and understanding there is absolutely no reason to remain in the Tower of Trials any longer.
That was also the reason why I purchased the most expensive hearthstone in the store after the final floor of the Tower of Trials collapsed and I was moved to a private waiting room.
Anyway even if I stayed in the Tower of Trials all I could achieve was exploring the dimensional layer which was nothing more than sub-content so there was no way I would be interested.
Then there was only one thing to do.
[Challenger Han Seong-yoon’s intention to return has been confirmed.]
[Consumes return stones to permanently return to Earth.]
[….]
‘Let’s go back.’
earth.
Return there and prepare for a fierce battle until the hostile ancient deities of the pantheon including the Gods of Despair Fall and Madness invade.
There was quite a bit of work to be done on Earth.
Not only should Catherine Bennett and Lee Ha-yeon be deified as apostles like the Lord of Iron Blood and the White Crane Swordsman but they should also warn that disasters that mortals cannot withstand will be poured out all over the world.
There was a need to explain to the leaders of each country that they must work together because soon a tragedy will unfold that no single human being can dare to endure.
Only then will we be able to reduce the number of casualties occurring in the aftermath of fierce battles around the world and prevent the possible extinction of humanity.
also. What tricks did the god of despair fall and madness come up with to invade Earth? Planning strategies for future battles etc. There was so much to do.
Annoyingly so.
‘If you think about it positively being able to return from the Tower of Trials with the Lord of Iron Blood and the White Crane Swordsman is a fortunate thing among misfortunes?’
step.
It was for this purpose that the Lord of Iron Blood and the White Crane Swordsman were made into apostles and the subordination contract with the Tower of Trials was effectively nullified.
It was clear that if I divided up the work with the two managers and took care of everything I had to do step by step I would be able to finish preparing for battle in no time.
‘In the end it’s all just a matter of time. We can complete preparations to prevent the occurrence and spread of human casualties before those four ancient gods invade Earth.’
It would be even more so if Catherine Bennett and Lee Ha-yeon were given great power by treating them as apostles and deities.
If the people living on Earth are safe anyway property damage caused by fierce battles is none of our business.
This is because planet-level restoration work can be accomplished by returning the entire space and time of the world itself to the past through sacred <Repentance>.
If there are no casualties it is possible for everything to be resolved amicably.
‘Then that’s it.’
I closed my eyes and opened them as I felt myself being transported to the Earth dimension rather than the Tower of Trials.
….
and.
[….]
[An error occurred.]
[Challenger Han Seong-yoon’s existing residence was destroyed so location identification is impossible.]
[Challenger Han Seong-yoon is randomly moved to somewhere close to his existing residence.]
At that moment out of nowhere unknown system messages appeared almost blocking my view.
Hwii───!
From top to bottom.
“?”
In an instant I started falling from the sky to the ground.
***
From heaven to earth.
I was being pulled to the ground by gravity at an increasingly faster rate not at the height of a building but at the level touching the thick cloud layer.
This was not a joke it was a real situation it was unexpected and at the same time it was a variable that I had never seen before.
‘What is this again….’
It was real.
As I was literally returning from the Tower of Trials to the Earth dimension some system messages appeared and I was transported through space not at home.
That’s it.
I don’t even know the full story of the incident.
In the face of this bizarre anomaly I read the system messages with a look of bewilderment on my face.
‘This is outrageous.’
A laugh comes out automatically.
‘Failure to identify location due to destruction of existing residence. So they threw it close to the existing residence? …What bullshit.’
I understood it but I wasn’t convinced.
Rather than returning to Earth this group was living in the Tower of Trials so they may not know much about news related to Earth.
However regardless of that if my residence had been destroyed it was obvious that someone whether Lee Ha-yeon or Catherine Bennett would have contacted me.
‘What happened to me?’
In response I frowned at the violent wind that passed my skin converted the mana in my body into demonic energy and then cast black magic.
【Folding vortex】
Rather than just waiting for it to fall from the sky to the ground it was easier to jump through space and go down first.
Ok.
At the same time as soon as I planted my feet on the ground I narrowed my eyes realizing that something was definitely wrong.
“….”
It was worth it.
Because as far as I could see not only the building that was originally my residence but also the surrounding area had been turned into ruins.
No matter where or how you look at it it’s not something you can just ignore.
Moreover according to the results of our physical examination there seemed to be traces of fierce battle not only in this area but also in all areas including Seoul.
On a serious level.
Swish!
and….
Tadaak-!
Just as I was squinting at the seemingly unusual traces of tragedy two landing sounds in succession rang out from behind me.
[The Iron Blood Lord ‘Canary Rugfeld’ looks around your hometown and feels a strange sense of disconnect.]
[Is this… an Earthling…? It would probably be said to be a civilized society that has achieved considerable development based on science and technology. …It’s somewhat different from what I heard from you. ]
[Baek Hak-seon ‘Baek Seol-hwa’ glances at you and vaguely senses that something unusual has occurred.]
[ no. It’s not like that. …I don’t think this is a normal version of Earth. There must have been something bad here. ]
“….”
Before I knew it the Lord of Iron Blood and the White Crane Swordsman had also followed me to the Earth dimension.
The two managers also seem to be talking as if they don’t think this is a typical Earth-level scene.
As if that wasn’t enough the Lord of Iron Blood and the White Crane Swordsman seemed certain that something unusual had happened and at some point got ready for battle.
It’s as if you never know when and where the enemy will appear.
“I would like to correct one thing in case you two are worried.”
surely. What’s special about it is that you never let go of tension no matter where and whenever you are. It’s a good habit.
“I think you two are probably worried that the fierce battle I mentioned a while ago is happening right here…”
step.
“It’s premature.”
[….]
For now it’s just a rumor.
“So far it doesn’t seem like there has been a full-scale invasion by the ancient gods of the pantheon including the Gods of Despair and Falling Madness.”
After informing the Iron Blood Lord and the White Crane Swordsman that there was no need to prepare for a fierce battle I walked on.
“what. Regardless of that part the fact that something unusual happened here seems certain to me. “It’s not normal.”
Patter.
After getting down from the pile of rubble left by the destroyed buildings I sighed and calmly gathered my thoughts.
‘Paralysis of national functions. Even if that is not the case an incident has occurred to the point where we cannot even pay attention to resolving the current situation. That’s for sure.’
From here you can see traces of a fierce battle engraved all the way to Seoul but no life reaction is felt at all.
This means that not only are there no living people or civilians but there are no professional personnel dispatched for life-saving work or damage restoration.
It is clearly strange that this is the case even though numerous casualties occurred and it is clear that the number of seriously injured or dead people was not small.
In some ways it seems similar to when Namgoong Hyuk a challenger from another world invaded Japan but the severity of the situation is likely to be much more severe.
‘I can feel the energy of divine power radiating from every corner of the battlefield. It is not the work of a hunter or challenger with malicious intent.’
ruins. The aura of divinity and magic left behind in the traces of that fierce battle was so thick that it was clearly noticeable.
‘…It’s not a high-ranking deity but a formal deity close to it ran rampant in Korea not long ago and caused a catastrophe?’
It was not an act of destruction committed by a single hunter or challenger with a bad mind.
It is close to a tragedy committed with some purpose by a formal deity who has established a hierarchy of divinity.
However the only difference is that it is impossible for a being who is a formal god to invade Earth.
Not only did the Tower of Trials register the Earth dimension as an official climbing dimension but even more than that the Earth dimension was tightly prevented from being invaded by external enemies.
━….
━Time ends.
━The winner of Dimension Cradle <Island of Sorting and Floating [A-?]> was decided to be the challenger ‘Hunter’.
Isn’t that right?
━….
━Cleared the challenge of Dimension Cradle <Island of Sorting and Floating [A-?]>.
━※As a reward for successfully completing the challenge a ‘Dimension Exclusive Barrier (EX)’ will be granted to Earth.
‘I was the final winner of the Dimensional Cradle event hosted by the Tower of Trials and as a result a dimension-specific barrier was created on Earth.’
While climbing the Tower of Trials I prepared my own precautions to prevent the Earth dimension from being destroyed by an external invasion.
‘Even the three ancient gods can’t easily invade the Earth dimension so how can something like a formal god Babble invade Earth?’
in other words.
‘That can’t be possible.’
There is no way the Earth dimension could have been invaded by a formal godhead not even a high-level godhead.
Moreover the law of creation called ‘causality’ created by the Tower of Trials was restraining the divine beings who had established the hierarchy of divinity from running wild at will.
A divine being who was a challenger who achieved the hierarchy of divinity in the tower of trials may not be bound by causality but a divine being who is not under its protection cannot overlook causality.
In order to directly intervene according to the law of creation ‘causality’ probability according to the causal principle is required and in order to violate this it is possible to initiate action by using the accumulated considerable amount of causality as a consumption value.
Even the three ancient gods cannot escape from the rules of ‘causality’ the law of creation created by the Tower of Trials.
‘Tower of Trials. Unless you are a challenger who has achieved the hierarchy of divinity you cannot escape the constraints of causality. Invading Earth is not something a formal god would be allowed to do.’
and.
‘and. My divine realm spreads throughout this planet. If an external enemy invades Earth I have no choice but to know.’
It’s not even just that.
The law of creation ‘causality’ followed by the ‘dimension-specific barrier’ obtained from the dimensional cradle and then the sacred realm that I personally laid out encompasses the entire planet.
Triple defense.
In order to break through such an ironclad castle and invade Earth the god of despair fall and madness must face a decisive battle with the determination to die.
This is only possible if that unpleasant ancient god uses all the power it has accumulated over a long period of time that cannot even be imagined.
There is no way that a formal deity who is not even a high-level deity could achieve that.
‘Then the answer is fixed.’
and….
‘Insider.’
That means only one thing.
‘Now renegades who have decided to serve the god of despair fall and madness have begun to appear among the challengers from Earth.’
…Before we knew it the god of despair fall and madness had begun preliminary work to invade Earth.
***
betrayer.
There was speculation that some of the challengers from Earth who climbed the Tower of Trials turned their backs on their hometown and began serving the God of Despair Fall and Madness.
The truth has not been confirmed but even without that I am confident that the God of Despair Fall and Madness has made a full-fledged move to invade Earth.
Wow.
“….”
anger. And hostility.
Negative emotions filled with murderous intent welled up from deep within my heart but I could barely hold them back.
That’s right even if I get angry belatedly it’s just a meaningless venting of emotions.
Instead of expressing that meaningless anger the first thing to do was to prioritize what needed to be done and resolve the situation.
‘First take control of the situation as the top priority and specify the extent of damage and the enemy’s location and purpose.’
At the same time my eyes glowed coolly and the energy of divinity and mana resonated throughout the world and the search began.
───.
In a moment. And in that split second of time the energy of divinity and mana digs into the earth itself and reads the necessary information.
In addition to the scale and progress of the tragedy we selected suspects believed to be the criminals who led this series of events and attempted to identify them with increased precision.
There is no possibility of failure in the search.
Some of the challengers from Earth who achieved the divine hierarchy must have been given power by that unpleasant ancient god.
It is bound to be noticeable.
Pachijik—!
That was actually the case.
“….”
In a split second of less than 0.001 seconds I succeeded in finding out everything I wanted to know.
‘As expected the current situation is not only happening in Korea but are similar incidents occurring simultaneously all over the world?’
All over the world challengers from Earth who have achieved an abnormal level of divinity are running rampant.
Excluding Korea nearby countries such as Japan and China were on the better side in relative terms. Some countries had already entered a state of destruction.
Some of the weaker countries were safe because they did not experience tragedy but others fell into despair fell and were destroyed by the Apostle Goddess who was given power by the God of Madness.
Powerful countries also did not escape great damage.
russia. Moscow was on the verge of destruction and only the survivors within it were barely being rescued. Even though many hunters and challengers from the military participated there were no notable results.
Britain has lost many major cities such as Glasgow and Birmingham.
Thanks to the crisis response abilities of Hunters and Challengers commonly known as rear-guard wizards belonging to the Clock Tower Guild the number of survivors in the UK is quite high compared to other countries but it is not a good situation to say the least.
The same goes for countries such as France Italy and Germany.
Fortunately the U.S. had the most strong players whether hunters or challengers so it seemed like they were able to go beyond just holding out and succeed in retaking some cities.
However a country with a low number of hunters or challengers and few people who consider it strong inevitably suffers great damage.
It’s not good.
‘…It’s not the worst but it’s not at a level where you can say it’s holding up well.’
Meanwhile Korea had a large number of hunters and challengers compared to the total population and although it had several strong players it was almost on the verge of collapse let alone doing well.
Compared to other countries that were doing well Korea was barely able to rescue survivors and was being unilaterally violated.
Unfortunately.
“It’s a pain in the ass.”
My head is pounding as I think about where to start and how to resolve the situation.
However it is clear that doing something is better than standing still.
After thinking about it for a while I decided how to handle the situation according to priority.
‘In Korea apostles and gods are still running rampant centered around Seoul. It would be right to take back Seoul first and then make plans for the next time.’
First the decision was made to first stabilize Korea which has the most serious situation among major countries and is nearby and then decide the next step.
Okay.
I clicked my tongue turned my head looked at the two managers standing next to me and gave instructions.
“The Lord of Iron Blood. And Baekhakgeomseon. I think we should both help resolve the current situation.”
There wasn’t much time.
“For now please both of you prioritize rescuing survivors and act in a way that eliminates factors that could increase casualties.”
[ indeed. As expected something is going on on Earth. Let’s do it. Rescue of survivors and elimination of human casualties. Is that okay? ]
“yes. And I will be responsible for any problems that arise during the process of rescuing survivors and eliminating human casualties. “Never stop.”
[ …all right. It’s not that difficult so you’ll soon be able to rescue the survivors as Seongyoon hopes. Just leave it to me. ]
“I will.”
I nodded and gave him one last piece of advice in case something unexpected happened.
“If anyone interferes with rescuing survivors or is reluctant to eliminate casualties just say my name.”
[Uh…. What if I tell you Seongyoon’s name and you stop me from rescuing survivors or eliminating the risk of casualties? And what should we do if they show hostile behavior towards us─ ]
“It is our policy not to kill as much as possible but if the obstacle is serious and it is impossible to subdue it you can kill it.”
[….]
“Please do me a favor.”
In most cases rescuing survivors and minimizing human casualties were things I had to do myself but there were things that had to take priority even more than that.
“Then we’ll see you later.”
It’s no different….
Coo coo coo coo coo coo coo coo!
[The god of transcendence and death flashes his murderous intent towards the apostolic gods who have appeared all over the world.]
[ …Until then I will also finish exterminating pests. ]
The god of despair fall and madness.
It was time to eliminate one by one the pests named Apostle Godhead planted by that unpleasant ancient Godhead.
.
