206. Dystopia (3)
「Do you want to take the 18th floor test?」
As soon as I returned to the waiting room, I decided to climb the tower.
Because now there is nothing more to check.
‘I checked all the rewards, and I managed to find out a lot of things I was curious about from the White Crane Geomseon.’
Now that the maintenance is complete, it’s time to increase your strength.
God of despair, fall and madness.
I had to accelerate my growth to the point where I could stand up to that ancient deity.
And the key to growth, as always, was in the tower.
‘…If I grow my abilities while climbing the tower, I’ll be able to accept the divinity of the lightsaber system someday.’
Seomin Neungbeopgi (閃刃能法器).
This holy relic obtained after meeting the lightsaber in the 17th floor ordeal had the ability to keep the sacred.
And through this divine storage ability, the divine spirit of ‘harmony’, the divine light sword system, was dwelling inside the seomin magic technique.
In the past, it was a power that I did not touch because it could ruin my mind…
‘After clearing the 18th floor, I might be able to absorb the power of the lightsaber.’
If it was now that he had greatly increased his strength through the giant tree labyrinth event, acquiring a new divinity would be fine.
If you acquire a new divinity, the number of power skills that can be imprinted on the < transcendence > divinity increases.
Even the benefits gained from absorbing the divinity of the lightsaber were not just an increase in the number of powerful skills.
〔 〕
Unnamed non-class.
This item obtained at the end of the 17th floor stage can also be used by absorbing the divinity of the lightsaber.
So I had to focus on maximizing my strength and getting the Divinity of Harmony.
The 18th floor ordeal can be said to be the cornerstone…
‘I have to do my best to clear it.’
From now on, you will have to put a lot of effort into trials.
「Entering the 18th floor of the Tower of Trials.」
「Difficulty – Difficulty」
「The theme of the ordeal is ‘Awareness’.」 「I
hope that the challenger will have a satisfactory result at the end of the penance he/she chooses.」
This distorted and musty air stings the lungs.
I slightly rolled my eyes and looked around, and I was standing on the roof of a barren old building.
Perhaps because the building was old, I could feel the unpleasant air coming into my lungs every time I breathed.
Of course, it doesn’t matter much because it’s a body that is far out of the category of the human species.
It was not a very pleasant environment.
In response, I stepped forward and began examining the view beyond the roof of the building.
and.
「Start the 18th floor ordeal.」
「Remaining time – 30 days」
「Order breakthrough condition – save the world that was driven to the brink of destruction by the godhead within the remaining time」
「Order failure condition – the death of the challenger or the end of the remaining time 「
Trial Breakthrough Reward – Usurper’s Leather Gloves (SS-)」
「Trial Failure Penalty – Death」
“….”
Then, looking at the scenery that came into my eyes, I laughed in amazement.
“What is this again…”
It was justified.
The 18th floor stage was very different from the stages of trials I had seen before.
“Amazing.”
It is different from other dimensions closer to the Middle Ages or the Ancient Orient.
Would this be the case if there was a highly developed civilized world?
What I could see beyond the roofs of the buildings were buildings that were tall enough to reach into the sky.
Its exterior was equipped with modern sophistication and showed the size of a large city.
It looked like a combination of several cities, so it was reasonable.
But that was just medicine.
Signboards full of neon signs flashing everywhere, and even a small airship floating in the air…
So I immediately remembered a word in the corner of my head.
“I never thought a world like this would exist.”
cyberpunk.
The 18th floor stage was a dimension close to the near-future worldview of the modern earth.
***
―Is it a highly developed world? It is a troublesome place to proceed with trials.
As I stood on the roof of the building and looked at the city for a while, the bloody demon sword rang out.
Surprisingly, Dam Chun-wu was not taken aback.
To him, I tilted my head and asked a question.
“Isn’t that surprising?”
-very. Didn’t I say that I was once a challenger too? Have you ever seen a similar world before?
“ah.”
―Some magic has seen a dimension that has developed through the enchantment of engineering.
“…but I’ve never heard of or seen such a world.”
―You don’t have to. The dimension developed by magic engineering was destroyed one day. No wonder you don’t know at all.
“…”
―I heard that it was not registered as an official climbing dimension, so it could not withstand the invasion of another dimension and perished as it was.
At those words, I realized that the tower was not a very beneficial existence.
‘Are you saying that a dimension that is not registered as an official climbing dimension is not worth protecting?’
Just as Namgoong-hyeok, the sword dragon of Changchun, appeared in Tokyo in the past, the world that Damcheonwu saw must have been destroyed by challengers from other dimensions.
It’s also very miserable.
Of course, the Earth level has been registered as an official climbing level, so there is no need to worry about perishing like that now
.
‘It must mean that the Tower is obsessed with the obliteration of divine beings to that extent.’
Trying to nurture talented challengers without even caring about the destruction of the world.
More than I imagined, the tower was obsessed with trying to grow challengers into transcendent people.
I tried to complicate my thoughts, but I shook my head and shook my thoughts.
‘There’s no point in thinking about it anyway.’
For now, clearing the trials on the 18th floor was the priority.
―It seems that the destruction of this world is not too far away.
I listened to Tan Tianyu’s words and looked down at the city.
“Iknow, right. Looking at the state of the city, things don’t look good.”
The big city filled with colorful lights was mostly damaged except for a few parts.
At least it didn’t look like it was destroyed by itself for the sake of redevelopment of the building.
There was no reason to destroy the building separately, it was just that the building collapsed somehow.
In fact, when I strengthened my eyes with magical power and looked closely, there were traces of some kind of battle.
It also proves that they fought fierce battles with each other.
After staring at it for a while, I raised my head and looked up at the sky.
“They said the world was being destroyed by a godhead…”
And then.
“I think I understand the situation now.”
I was able to find some gray orb floating in the sky.
Having seen it so many times, it was possible to quickly recognize it.
gray orb.
That…
「I have found the source of the godhead.」
It had the power close to that of the godhead itself.
***
Currently I have a brief understanding of the situation.
The system message that popped up upon entering the 18th floor stage said that this world was on the verge of being destroyed by a godhead.
In fact, most of the large cities with cyberpunk-like backgrounds collapsed due to unknown battles.
In this situation, a gray orb floating in the sky, close to a godhead.
Even if he wanted to know that the condition for clearing the 18th floor stage was to get rid of that gray sphere, he couldn’t help but be unaware.
Then another system message popped up.
「Conditions satisfied.」
「Special task ‘Savior’ begins.」
「You have discovered the source
from which the divine being was born.
」 Until this ends, the source of the godhead will not be destroyed and will not stop growing.” “
Stop the godhead that is trying to devour the whole world and save the world from the godhead.”
Additional settlement is coming in.」
After roughly reading the system message, I briefly summarized the contents.
“In a nutshell, it means to get rid of it before the godhead finishes growing.”
The gray orb was the source of the godhead, so it was close to the godhead itself.
It’s probably because he entered the growth phase that he took on that form
…
Unfortunately, the divinity could not be destroyed unless all the faith supplied to the source of the divinity was completely cut off.
It means that it is not an ordeal that can be eaten raw.
Then it was decided what to do.
‘I’ll cut off all the supply and demand of faith that leads to the source of the divinity and deal with the divinity.’
The road presented on the 18th floor stage itself was not that complicated.
But the problem is the power of the godhead.
‘They said it was the birth of a divinity…’
In the [Labyrinth Temple] where numerous gods gathered, I definitely felt the power of a divinity.
To the point where I could feel the reason why the Godheads mocked me as a mortal.
Godhead was an existence that transcended providence.
Currently, although I can deal with the incarnation of the godhead, I don’t have the strength to deal with the main body.
Therefore, before the source of the godhead was completed, the supply and demand of faith had to be cut off and the growth stopped.
“….”
After thinking about it for a while, I jumped down the building.
And…
「Strongly activates the authority skill ‘Steel Wings’」
Chow ah…!
He immediately spread his steel wings and quickly headed towards the street where the light did not leak.
To the place where traces of unknown battles remain.
―Are you not collecting information in the city? There is not a lot of time, so there is a way to get information.
“There is no need to gather information from the city, is it?”
―What is that…?
“It’s not that densely populated, considering that the city itself has mostly collapsed.”
Due to the tremendous increase in stats, it was now possible to detect it without having to wear magical powers.
And that too over a fairly wide range.
What I found out through this was that the population density in the city was not very large.
People were even living where the buildings collapsed.
“There are many people alive even on streets without lights.”
What that meant was simple.
“So it may be impossible to get to the center of the city.”
Right now, the city is in lockdown.
―…What does the people living in the collapsed place have to do with the impossibility of going to the center of the city?
“It’s simple. Having so many people on the collapsed streets is a blockade of the city. It’s like a tail-cutting concept.”
-no way…!
“Did you find out now?”
Even though many people lost their places to live due to the battle, there is not much population density in the city.
I could see what the situation was in that the number of people was not accepted to the maximum, but the right amount was maintained.
“They threw people away like cutting out the rotten parts of a fruit.”
―…You’re crazy. What do you think about human life? A lot of people will die because of this.
“That’s it, I don’t know. But there must be a reason why many people will not accept it even if they die.”
―…But still, if it’s you, you can enter the center of the city, right? There is no reason to follow the city’s lockdown guidelines.
“However, there is no way that smooth information collection is possible in a place where outside inflow is blocked.”
The system told me that this world was on the brink of destruction by the godhead.
That means that the collapse of the city due to this battle is also the fault of the Goddess…
It couldn’t be easy to find out what the battle this God caused was in the sealed city.
If it is a place that has thoroughly blocked the inflow of the outside, there must be a lot of information that is being missed.
“It would be more accurate to hear from the locals about what happened to the site of the collapse.”
After saying that, I made the steel wings disappear.
「Boss skill ‘Steel Wings’ is deactivated.」
Attached.
Landing on the ground and looking around, the situation was worse than observed from a distance.
‘Serious is serious.’
As a rule of thumb, I came to a place where people seemed to be.
It made me wonder if any of them were really alive.
All that remains of this place are the remains of buildings and an unknown number of broken machines.
Relying on bodily sensations to count people was now unreasonable.
‘Even though his ability level is high, I still can’t detect it as finely as I can.’
As a rule of thumb, you can know where a lot of people will be, but…
it wasn’t a level to tell exactly where they were.
‘It can’t be helped.’
It was the moment to activate the senses and expand the sensing area.
snap.
I turned my head at the sudden sound of wet footsteps, and three people caught my eye.
Among them, a woman with a prosthetic arm attached to her left arm stepped forward and pointed a dagger at me.
“Hey there. you. When you say nice things, give everything you have and go away.”
I blinked for a moment at the nervous voice, then asked again in bewilderment.
“…me?”
However, the question was colorless, and the woman confidently said with a fishy smile.
“under! So, who else is here besides you? Aren’t you stupid? Give everything you have and get out of here!”
After she said that, her left hand, which was not holding the dagger, suddenly started a fire.
Fire!
“Even if you look at it like this, I’m the owner of a manifestation-type psychic power! I know how to look bad if I do useless things!”
I laughed out loud at that, and within a short time, magic power wrapped around my body like an aura.
“Expression type psychic powers?”
and.
Go go go go…!
At the same time as magic power rose from my body like mist, I continued.
“Are you talking about this?”
