Chapter 175
Chapter 175
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 175
Chapter Title: The Avatar in the Abyss
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“You’re saying he’s just like me?”
Ju Gonghyeok brought his face right up to hers.
The polite speech had already vanished.
“Tell me more about it. I saw someone exactly like me recently, too.”
Nathaniel blinked.
- Where?
“In a dream.”
- ……
It sounded like a joke, but it was the truth.
The other version of himself he’d met in his dreams kept sending him messages.
‘Don’t do anything you’ll regret.’
“Hmph. Follow me.”
Hild stepped away from the wall and descended vertically along the well’s surface.
After trailing her down another few hundred meters, a pitch-black surface came into view, like ink spilled everywhere.
It was the well’s surface he’d been waiting for.
“I’m normally tasked with guarding this place. Making sure nothing gets near the surface.”
She extended a finger toward the surface.
But the surface swirled away, avoiding her finger.
“I can’t touch the surface or go in. It’s been a long, boring duty. But lately, I’ve sensed something strange.”
“Strange?”
She nodded.
“Exactly nine times. I felt a different presence from inside. This time, curiosity got the better of me, and I peeked just a little into the abyss. The abyss that had always shown nothing before—a human figure rose up. And then...”
Hilde checked Ju Gonghyeok’s face again.
“A human exactly like you burst out from inside. He attacked me without warning, so I fought back. The result was my defeat, as you saw.”
“So where did No. 2 me go?”
“No idea. But if you didn’t spot him up top...”
Her sky-blue finger pointed at the surface.
“He must’ve gone back inside.”
“I see.”
Ju Gonghyeok peered into the surface.
No stats, no traits—nothing showed up.
The calm surface reflected only his own image.
She spread her arms toward the surface.
“As gatekeeper, I permit it. Dive in as you like. While you’re at it, land one on the Demon King for me.”
“I appreciate it, but...”
Ju Gonghyeok stroked his chin.
The risk was too high.
‘Coldly speaking, I shouldn’t go in.’
He wasn’t confident he could beat Hilde right now.
His fight with Cluesti hadn’t been a straight-up victory either.
He’d nerfed her stats and used all his hidden cards—like the Archangel’s Die and summoning Azazel—to create conditions where he could win.
But the monster in the well had beaten Hilde as if it were nothing.
“That means there’s at least a Four Heavenly Kings-level monster inside.”
“If I may add, I’m not sensing any other presences in the well right now. Though I can’t say for sure it’s gone.”
Hilde spoke lightly upon hearing Ju Gonghyeok’s mutter.
As a former goddess of fate with the authority of Foresight, her senses were reliable.
Even so, Ju Gonghyeok felt a powerful impulse unrelated to that.
The throbbing he’d felt so many times before—it dragged out the urge to plunge into the abyss, danger be damned.
“I’ll have to check what’s down there myself.”
Slowly, from the toes up, Ju Gonghyeok immersed himself in the abyss.
= Whoa! Suddenly!
= Wababababat! What the hell just happened!?
The moment Ju Gonghyeok submerged, the avatars inside him were pushed out like they were being ejected, floating into the air.
- Ack! What is this!?
Nathaniel was no exception.
Nathaniel and GM, Ra-Djehuty and Je-cheon Daeseong, Asura King and Progenitor, Vulcanus and Zeus—all bobbed on the surface.
= Angel dude! What’s going on!? Is it okay for my little bro to head in there alone!?
- I-I don’t...
Je-cheon Daeseong grabbed Nathaniel by the collar and shook her.
But she had no answers either.
Ra-Djehuty shone golden light on the surface.
= It seems this thing rejects avatars and all other effects outright. Nothing to worry about.
= Even without us?
= It might actually be safer that way. If powers can’t be used inside, it won’t just be our master Ju Gonghyeok affected.
Hearing Ra-Djehuty’s explanation, Nathaniel anxiously bit at her nail tips.
An ability that rejected avatars and erased effects.
Nathaniel knew that authority well.
- Demon King Bel Marduk’s 『Genesis Annihilation Law』...
“This is Babel’s deepest core. Of course his power would be deeply tied to it.”
Hilde stood beside Nathaniel.
- Lady Hilde.
“Drop the name the Demon King slapped on me on a whim. I am Hild of Asirheim, one of the Norns. Goddess of Fate, Hild.”
- Understood, then Lady Hild of Fate.
Nathaniel eyed her suspiciously for the first time.
- Why are you being so nice to Ju Gonghyeok?
“Hmm.”
- You’ve blocked gods and everyone else without mercy, so why let him through without a reason? If he causes trouble down there, the Demon King won’t let you off easy.
The little angel directed her doubts at the sky-blue goddess.
- Have you really never met Ju Gonghyeok before?
“I’ve absolutely never met him. I don’t even really know what kind of person he is.”
- Then why do you trust him?
“......Because he has GM.”
- GM?
Nathaniel glanced at the GM floating in the air, but GM just shrugged playfully.
Hilde continued quietly.
“In the past, Old Father, GM, and I made a certain promise. That’s all I can tell you. As for the rest...”
Hilde gazed down into the well as she finished.
“Fate has finally guided him here.”
Rough waves stirred on the once-calm surface.
* * *
The well Ju Gonghyeok had entered wasn’t ordinary water.
Babel’s information seeped directly into his skin and senses.
It felt like formless data compressed into liquid form.
[Total monsters on 14th floor: 589,560......]
[30th floor simultaneous spawn, Zone 4.]
[Cluesti’s dead—what do we do?]
[For now, Acting Fallen Archduke Mastema will...]
[Current human-held coins...]
[Human tribe vs. beastman tribe physical stats comparison. Human tribe’s D-rank strength is called 1-star for beastmen. All beastmen start at 1-star.]
[The dog tribe’s done for. Even if it’s because of hybrid chaos, losing half their techniques means they don’t deserve the Dog God name.]
“Poor Kisua too. Unless she finds the guardian divine beast from the legends who mastered all Twelve Divine Marvels, the dog tribe’s future is...]
[I know the Dragon God well. No matter how hard the rear guard tries, he’ll never become the Dragon God.]
[Give up on him. Southern Sect honor matters, but that young tiger’s talent is too precious to throw into the meat grinder...]
His head started to ache.
He brushed aside the flood of incoming data.
Then the 41st floor came into view.
The dimensional star system opened by the 40th floor cataclysm.
A star system of ten connected planets from floors 40 to 49—a battle over who claimed the most factories, legions, and planets.
The first planet, Lukrem. Humans and beastmen clashed in a massive factory district turned battlefield.
Around the surviving frontline hunters, a fierce main force battle raged.
Christina charged forward most bravely, driving back the beastmen.
At last, a tribal leader-level powerhouse stepped up to block her path.
Baden of the demon tribe and Sero of the beast tribe, who would later claim the seats of Demon God and Death God.
Her only stroke of luck was the Dragon God’s absence.
Detachments circled the chaotic factory district to strike the enemy rear.
And in the path targeting the beastmen’s rear.
“The opponent’s just one guy! Why are you all so scared!”
“But we can’t get through!”
One beastman had hundreds of the detachment pinned down, unable to move.
A bird tribesman with a bright red cockscomb raised high stood on one bird-like leg, hand resting on his sword hilt.
“My name is Gaso. I am one of the Twelve Direct Heirs of the bird tribe, the one who commands the wings.”
The area around Gaso was spotlessly clean, not a speck of dust.
But just past ten steps, it was a mess of blood and guts.
“If you want to pass, step into my blade first.”
Sweat beading on their brows, the hunters unleashed ranged skills.
Ranged spells poured down, vanguard hunters tensed and charged.
Clack—
But it was all for naught. All they heard was the sound of the sword sliding back into its sheath.
They hadn’t even seen it drawn.
Slash—
A hundred hunters and a thousand skills were cleaved perfectly in half.
Bird God Art: Draw Slash—Thousand Man Severance.
The secret technique passed down among the Twelve Heirs of the Bird God.
Gaso had executed Thousand Man Severance to perfection.
The third time already.
‘No worthy opponent in this spot?’
Gaso let out a small sigh and was about to reset his bird-legged stance.
“Suddenly... it hurts, doesn’t it?”
One of the bisected corpses twitched.
Crack—
Gaso’s yellow-scaled leg snapped, and the fingers drawing his sword curled up.
“How!”
It had to be a curse or telekinesis.
With a broken leg and spasming fingers, proper combat was impossible.
‘So the humans hide powerhouses amid their numbers!’
The bird tribe swordsman who’d cut down hundreds alone fell back.
Ha Yeonsi, who’d been lying there with her gut slashed open, slowly rose.
There she was, moving in search of those still clinging to life.
Somehow sensing Ju Gonghyeok’s gaze, she draped herself over the wounded and looked up at the sky.
“Oppa, I’m trying hard too.”
The waves passed, and the 41st floor scene cut off.
Soma Sangai wasn’t visible either, so the situation was probably grim.
Ha Yeonsi and Soma Sangai must’ve been branded traitors for siding with Ju Gonghyeok and assigned to the detachment.
Detachments had no rear guard. The moment they were encircled or hit a snag, annihilation was guaranteed.
A bitter smile tugged at Ju Gonghyeok’s lips.
‘Irrelevant thoughts.’
Whatever happened to Ha Yeonsi or Soma Sangai, the tragedies and suffering of the Company or other hunters meant nothing to Ju Gonghyeok.
They were all people who’d vanish soon enough.
He pulled his mind together and peered into the darkness filling the water.
Pitch black with not a speck of light—nothing should’ve been visible, but Ju Gonghyeok’s eyes caught a glimmer.
He swam toward the glimmer through the abyss.
‘This is...’
The closer he got, the more the glimmer turned into a flame.
‘The flame I sensed from underground floor 1.’
A brilliant light he’d seen despite walls and dimensions blocking the way.
The light he’d seen pulsing alongside the throbs in his dreams.
Now it lay before him in reality.
‘The other me isn’t visible.’
As he slowly circled the flame, Ju Gonghyeok realized.
‘This is Babel’s system.’
Waves of information flowed into the flame, and the flame sent waves out somewhere.
The waves originating from the flame circulated through all of Babel.
Realizing the flame was Babel’s essence, an incredibly familiar sensation washed over Ju Gonghyeok.
‘An avatar.’
He was certain.
Thirteen regressions in, and he’d come face-to-face with Babel’s avatar.
‘In a case like this, the god or avatar bound to Dungeon Babel would be...’
『Demon King Bel Marduk』
He’d thought about it briefly once before.
‘Maybe the Demon King has an avatar?’
But it had been idle speculation.
If so, then Lilianne and the Four Heavenly Kings should have avatars too.
Avatars were part of the system Earth had absorbed in the first place.
There was no reason for devils who’d lived in Babel before that to have them.
But for Babel itself, which had absorbed Earth—for the Demon King— the possibility of an avatar existed, didn’t it?
That past delusion existed now as reality before his eyes.
“You’ve seen it, Ju Gonghyeok.”
A clear voice rang in his ear.
An utterly familiar voice.
He turned his head with a creak, and there sat a devil on a throne, leisurely sipping tea.
He was the Demon King.
Bel Marduk of the Genesis Annihilation Law.