Chapter 123: The 23rd Floor – World of Faith (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 123: The 23rd Floor – World of Faith (2)
[What a strange world.]
Eldiria murmured.
[Luktosan and Hareta. These are names of gods I have never heard of. Furthermore, those who serve them do not wield the Divine Power that one would naturally possess as a follower of a god.]
They were either low-ranking deities she didn't recognize, or this was a world the gods had long since abandoned.
[A world where the gods have averted their eyes, yet those left behind still cling to their faith. Such places do exist from time to time.]
"No."
Kang Jun-hyeok contradicted her assumption.
"It's probably not that. In reality, it's likely much more trivial than you think, Eldiria."
[What do you mean by that?]
"I think it would be best to hear the details from a local."
Kang Jun-hyeok lightly tapped the head of the unconscious soldier. With a low groan, the man slowly blinked awake.
As soon as he opened his eyes and saw Kang Jun-hyeok, he gasped in terror and scrambled backward, crawling along the dirt to get away.
"Hieeeek! I'm sorry! Please spare me! I was wrong!"
"Don't make such a fuss. I won't kill you as long as you answer my questions properly."
His heavy voice resonated through the clearing. The panicked soldier's face gradually calmed, his breathing slowing. It was the power of the Persuasion skill.
"W-what is it you wish to know...?"
"What's your name?"
"I am Messi, the third son of Agop the blacksmith from Huudan Village in the Luktosan Kingdom!"
"Right. Messi. What kind of world is this?"
"...Pardon?"
Messi rolled his eyes, seemingly unable to grasp the simplicity of the question. Kang Jun-hyeok continued.
"As I said before, I'm a traveler. I don't know much about the specifics of this land. So, I'd like you to tell me."
"Ah. Yes. Yes! Please, ask me anything!"
"First, this Luktosan you serve. What is the domain he presides over?"
Yulsir, the God of Law. Haihimer, the God of Weapons. Zelesi, the God of Jealousy.
Every being worthy of the title 'God' had a domain they presided over. Messi blinked, looking confused.
"Uh... there's no such thing."
[Hmm?]
Eldiria let out a sound of confusion. Kang Jun-hyeok pressed further.
"Then what kind of god is Luktosan?"
"Lu-Luktosan is just Luktosan. He is the King of the Luktosan Kingdom."
"So he's a human, not a god?"
"Uh... for now, that is my understanding."
[Ah.]
Only then did Eldiria realize the truth. Her interest vanished instantly, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.
[So this is why you called it trivial.]
Messi whispered fearfully, as if afraid the wind might carry his words to the wrong ears.
"Though we serve them and call them gods, they are not actually gods. To be precise, they are currently walking the path to become gods."
Messi began to explain the history of the world.
This world was divided into five kingdoms. For several hundred years, these nations had maintained an alliance, flourishing through trade and cooperation. It had been a peaceful world.
However, twenty years ago, that peace was suddenly shattered.
"The kings of each nation began to call themselves gods. They commanded us to serve and worship them. They declared themselves absolute beings and the sole rulers of the world."
And the kings all made the same claim:
I am the only god in this world.
The kings of other kingdoms who claim to be gods are mere demons daring to challenge my authority.
With those declarations, war broke out. Peace was shattered, and trade collapsed. People who had been laughing and drinking together until yesterday began stabbing each other with swords and crushing skulls with maces. As casualties mounted on both sides, the rift of resentment grew into an unbridgeable chasm.
Twenty years had passed since the start of the war.
Now, the people of each nation worshipped their respective kings as living deities and harbored a bone-deep hostility toward all other kingdoms.
That was the history of the 23rd Floor.
The World of Faith.
[It truly is utterly trivial.]
[A futile endeavor.]
Both Eldiria and the Master of All Weapons spoke in cold, unimpressed tones.
[Born as a human and wishing to become a god. It is a common, trite ambition found in every corner of the universe. It seems it has simply spread across this entire planet like a plague.]
[It is a pity. Divinity is not something that can be reached in such a manner.]
A mortal being can never truly become a god. No matter how strong they become or how high their status rises, they would only ever become a Transcendent like Eldiria or the Master of All Weapons.
The reason was simple.
[A god possesses a domain they preside over. Unless one gains that, they cannot become a god. And that domain belongs solely to the gods.]
It was a fundamental law of the universe. Kang Jun-hyeok knew this as well.
And he knew one more thing.
The kings of this world weren't actually as stupid as they seemed. They had their own reasons.
Eldiria spoke to Kang Jun-hyeok, her voice dripping with boredom.
[What an uninteresting world. More importantly, does this story not have nothing to do with you?]
"It might seem that way."
The true nature and background of the world didn't seem to matter to Kang Jun-hyeok. The objective of the quest was simply to 'leave a mark' on the world.
As long as he left a mark in any way, the quest would be cleared.
The clear conditions for the 23rd Floor were diverse. Someone had cleared it by acting as a traveling merchant; another had cleared it by slaughtering soldiers, just as he had. Someone else had cleared it by serving as a king's loyal vassal.
In fact, Kang Jun-hyeok had already fulfilled the basic clear condition.
[23rd Floor Quest Complete.]
• Would you like to clear?
The system window had been hovering in his vision ever since he annihilated the soldiers. That single act of violence was enough to 'leave a mark.'
If he nodded, the quest would end immediately. He would return to Earth with his rewards.
But naturally, Kang Jun-hyeok had no intention of leaving yet.
When a floor was cleared, there was a metric called the Achievement Rate.
The rate varied depending on the impact the player had on the floor. For most players, it was a pitifully low number, usually hovering around 1%.
Players didn't pay much attention to the achievement rate. Their reasoning was that it was hard enough just to survive and clear the floor, so why bother with anything else? The fact that achievement rates were usually abnormally low also played a part; everyone assumed that high rates were simply impossible to achieve.
But Kang Jun-hyeok had always thought differently.
And that conviction reached its peak when he arrived at the 23rd Floor.
In his past life, the clear window had appeared around this same time. But he had stopped to ponder. If he cleared it now, the achievement rate would surely be low. So, what else could he do?
He had looked at the world. A vast, seemingly endless world. This wasn't some small, scripted trial. It was a massive world, just like Earth.
What could he gain here? What could he achieve?
The quest condition was to leave a mark.
Then, if he left a mark that would be etched into the very history of this world, what level of achievement would he reach?
The Kang Jun-hyeok of his past life had searched for that answer, and he had found it.
100% Achievement Rate.
The first floor he had ever achieved a Perfect Clear on was this very floor.
That was why Kang Jun-hyeok turned to Messi and asked:
"By any chance, do you know of a place called the Demonic Realm?"
Messi flinched at the question.
"The Demonic Realm... you say. Uh, yes. I know of it, but..."
"The location too?"
"...Yes."
"Oh, that's good."
Kang Jun-hyeok grinned.
"Lead me to the Demonic Realm."
"Hieek!"
Messi gasped, lunging forward to grab Kang Jun-hyeok’s sleeve.
"I-I don't think you realize what kind of place the Demonic Realm is! It's a horrible place! No one who has ever entered has ever returned! For the past several hundred years, the kings of each country have sent countless soldiers to purge it, but they were all annihilated!"
Messi tried his best to dissuade him, describing the horrors of the realm in vivid detail. However, Kang Jun-hyeok looked as if he was delighted by the news.
"You know it well. Now, lead the way."
"..."
Messi looked like he was about to burst into tears.
* * *
Messi led Kang Jun-hyeok toward their destination, though every step was taken against his will. Even as he guided him, Messi continued his desperate persuasion.
"Are you r-really going into the Demonic Realm?"
"Just approaching it is dangerous! It's so bad that they've only put up warning signs—no one even dares to guard it!"
"I-I know you're strong, but this is just reckless!"
Kang Jun-hyeok dismissed the pleas with a simple command.
"I get it. Just lead the way."
"..."
In the end, Messi gave up, trudging along with a face that looked half-dead. Kang Jun-hyeok watched him from behind.
He needed a guide to find the Demonic Realm of the 23rd Floor. He had reached it in his past life, but since he had spent years traveling the world back then, his memory of the exact geography wasn't perfect. He had intended to spare one person from the start for this very purpose.
There was a reason he had chosen Messi specifically.
"I guess you don't particularly worship your king as a god, do you?"
"Ye-yes?"
"From the way you talk and your attitude. You didn't seem like someone who thought of Luktosan as a deity."
Messi hadn't been active during the initial skirmish. Even when the other soldiers were trying to kill Jun-hyeok, he had hesitated with an ambiguous, reluctant attitude. That was exactly why Kang Jun-hyeok had spared him.
Messi scratched his head sheepishly.
"Uh... I don't have faith like the others. I'm only participating in the war because a royal decree was issued."
He lowered his voice to a whisper.
"In the first place, a human becoming a god... is that even possible? Everyone is wasting their lives on a futile dream. It's truly a pity."
Kang Jun-hyeok smiled silently.
Messi's assumption wasn't wrong. It was impossible for a human to become a god.
‘But the kings here aren't that stupid either.’
After a journey of several days, they finally arrived. A forest that existed unnaturally in the middle of a vast, barren plain came into view. A weathered warning sign was planted firmly in the earth before them.
[Warning. Beyond this point is the entrance to the Demonic Realm. Survival cannot be guaranteed. Please turn back.]
"Ack."
Messi hiccuped in fear.
"Since... since I've guided you here, can I go back now?"
"No. Keep following me."
"Ugh."
Messi's face was a mask of despair. As they walked toward the treeline, his complexion turned from pale to a sickly blue.
And finally, as they reached the edge of the forest, Messi spotted something.
"...Huh?"
Messi's eyes widened.
On the outskirts of the forest, there were people. They were knights clad in gleaming full plate armor.
"Wh-what?"
The Demonic Realm was supposed to be an extremely dangerous place—so dangerous that no one guarded it. Only a single warning sign stood there. That was the Demonic Realm Messi knew from stories.
But now, a literal army of knights was guarding the perimeter. And that wasn't the only strange thing.
"The emblems... they're..."
The crests on the knights' armor were all different.
A yellow flag.
A blue angel.
A white dove.
A black sword.
And a red cross.
Knights from the five kingdoms—nations currently locked in a bloody, holy war—were standing in formation together, side by side, guarding the Demonic Realm. It was as if they were determined not to let a single soul inside.
"Wh-wh-what is this?"
Messi couldn't wrap his head around the scene. Kang Jun-hyeok, however, wore an expression of pure nostalgia.
‘It’s been a long time.’
Now, it was time for him to do what he came for. Kang Jun-hyeok stepped forward.