Chapter 25
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Evacuation to the 5th Floor
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Gonghyeok and Soma entered the village.
In the least-collapsed cathedral, Gonghyeok pulled out two chairs from the confessional.
“Don’t just stand there. Sit down.”
“I’m fine. More importantly, I want to hear your answer.”
Gonghyeok sat in a chair and removed the hellhound mask. If he didn’t speak face-to-face, trust would falter. Besides, he felt like smoking a pipe anyway.
“Before that, let me ask one too. Soma, what’s the righteous path?”
“……”
“Tough to answer, right? Fair enough. You’ve killed plenty yourself.”
Soma affirmed with silence. After Babel’s invasion sparked Tibet’s armed independence struggle, China crushed it ruthlessly with overwhelming force to curb post-monster disaster chaos.
The Dalai Lama, advocate of nonviolent peace, visited the Tibetan Autonomous Region to stop the violence, only to face assassination attempts from both Chinese and Tibetan hardliners.
And Soma, to protect the Dalai Lama and his ideals, stained his hands with blood. Caught in the struggle’s vortex, he cast off his Buddhist precepts and became Tibet’s armed hunter, “Dhritarashtra Soma Sangai.”
“The path that saves everyone, stands proud before all, and smashes every evil.”
Gonghyeok chuckled. A pipe was already in his hand.
“If that’s the righteous path, I can’t walk it. Because…”
The smoke scattered into nothingness.
“I’m going to kill even more people from now on.”
Soma’s fist clenched with an ominous crunch.
“Your strength, your wits, your wisdom—I’m deeply impressed. But here and now, one of us might have to die.”
“Soma. I don’t know how much hope you pinned on me. But I’m not the one who saves people.
I’m the one who kills people, slays demons, topples demon kings, and crumbles Babel. The savior’s someone else.”
“The one who saves people…”
“In this infernal pit, the one who saved you wasn’t me. It was Ha Yeonsi, who was with me.”
Soma bowed his head with an inscrutable expression.
“Yeonsi’s kind. In a place like this, she’ll fade away pointlessly. The human values she wants to protect are too grand for the idiots scrambling in Babel to grasp. They just call her a naive fool.”
“In a place like this, Lady Yeonsi’s kind heart is easily twisted…”
“Mister, you don’t get it.
On the 1st floor, out of 200 hunters, who fought to ‘clear Babel’? Me and Yeonsi. Just two.”
Gonghyeok’s finger pointed at Soma.
“You were no different from the other 198. You want to save people, but you’re too busy riding the immediate currents. Soma, while traveling with us, did you ever once think about killing the 88th floor demon king?”
“Mm…”
“Of course not. It’s impossible for normal folks. People exploding left and right, killing monsters for rewards, earning achievements and quests, killing each other, protecting your own neck. Endless extremes, right? The 88th floor feels worlds away.”
Soma remembered. Even torn apart by beasts, Yeonsi’s vow.
“Still, Yeonsi said it clearly. She’d slay the 88th floor demon king with her own hands.”
“I kill people and protect Yeonsi and this world. I’ll safeguard the values she holds dear, so she can keep believing in them.”
“You…”
Soma, who had been silent, spoke.
“You will fall into hell.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“And we’ll meet again at the bottom of hell.”
Soma gazed at the gaping hole in the ceiling. In the dim sky’s center hung the door to the next floor.
“I’ll become a single yaksha. The foundation for a world where kind humans can stay kind, where the righteous can call the righteous.”
Among the Vajra Guardians, the Blue Vajra was said to lead the yakshas and uphold the law. Thus, they were also called Vajra Yakshas.
“Gonghyeok. The moment you lose purpose and become a demon, I’ll stop you. If you hold to your path, I’ll be the shield that bleeds for you.”
“Welcome, friend.”
Soma and Gonghyeok clasped hands. The resolve transmitted was rock-solid.
“I’ll head back to the northern waterfall dungeon now. Farewell, then…”
“Wait.”
The smoke trapped in Gonghyeok’s mouth billowed into the air.
“Those 90 people there? They might end up in some unimaginable state.”
“Unimaginable state? Like what…”
“Too complicated to explain… They’re skipping straight to the 5th floor from the 4th.”
“What on earth…”
“It’s all for their own good. Just don’t be too shocked.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Soma nodded and departed.
Gonghyeok stayed, caressing his pipe—Eboné—for an hour while burning tobacco.
Honestly.
All that talk of saviors and righteous values was just bluster. None of it mattered to Gonghyeok either way.
Yeonsi and Soma were mere means to save humanity.
In the thick smoke, Gonghyeok whispered the wish he’d made countless times.
Please.
Don’t make me regress.
Just let me die forever.
===
Four days later, the lower rankers returned to the village.
“A third of the village is gone.”
“That flash visible from the northern waterfall—that X’s doing too?”
“Not some sci-fi movie kaiju… Village looks like it got carpet-bombed.”
The hunters updated their rankings with Azazel. A flicker of dismay crossed her face.
“Hey, bro. With the village like this, how many top rankers died?”
“Uh, about 30.”
“Thirty? Let’s see. Huh? Hmm? Uh-huh?”
Yeonsi seemed to realize something and shouted at Gonghyeok.
“Wait! Including me and you, only 22 top rankers left, and if the rest pile up the same scores…”
“Uwaaaah!?”
“W-what is this!?”
23rd: ‘Baoa Shin’ ‘Kasim bin Assam’ et al., joint 89.
“No way! Even if they tweak scores!”
Even low-rankers gathered meant collective intelligence kicked in.
They’d contracted to swap about 20 ahead to 49th in case numbers didn’t match…
But the number ahead was 26.
Meaning they could never reach joint 50th, no matter what—and they couldn’t honor their oath to stop at joint 50th. The penalty for breach…
“Gaaah, my stats!”
“You fucking bastard!”
All 91 had their stats reset to 1.
Screams and curses faded briefly. Now with infant-level intellect, they sat dumbfounded, staring blankly at each other.
“B-bro, what the hell is going on!?”
“Shh, quiet.”
[‘Kasim bin Assam’ et al. 90 persons’ all stats changed to 1]
[Deemed combat-incapable in Babel for unspecified reasons]
[Angel Accord Article 7 Section 9 applied: Combat-incapables with total stats 10 or below evacuated humanely to the rear]
The 91 hunters’ bodies were enveloped in light.
Angels and demons had rules surrounding Babel.
Demons could summon 201 to the 1st floor and execute one as example; angels had humane clauses too.
Angel Accord Article 7 Section 9: The “rear” for evacuating combat-incapables…
Meant the 5th floor—Babel’s greatest stronghold, home to 700,000 humans and 15 unique cities.
“Azazel, you didn’t tip them off about this, did you?”
Lilianne, who’d appeared, glared at Azazel.
“No way. I never imagined using that rule here.”
Gonghyeok lit his pipe.
‘Back then, seeing “Silver-Arm Edgar” cursed, I was baffled.’
On Babel’s 51st floor, Edgar hit by the evil god’s curse had all stats at 1. Laughing at his party weeping like babies, then watching him vanish in light to the 5th—Gonghyeok couldn’t hide his shock.
“Bro, they’re okay going to the 5th like that?”
“Yeah. They’ll be welcomed.”
22 smithing avatars, 18 architecture and arts avatars, 34 academic avatars in mechanics, math, etc.
Lower rankers stayed low because most were non-combat avatars.
Their value would skyrocket in the 5th floor’s unique cities—modern human cities transplanted wholesale, needing production and managers. Non-combat avatars died off before arriving, causing shortages.
Once confirmed as architecture or admin avatars, cities would throw purple coins to deploy them.
“They’ll thank me later. For getting them there safe.”
No loss in the contract; this hassle wasn’t just to honor words.
When Gonghyeok reached the 5th, he’d use them to spark mechanical industry with “machine god tribe” materials.
Seeing Azazel’s sour face, Gonghyeok shouted.
“Azazel! Hand over the Spirit Summoning Scroll!”
1st floor, week 3, final day.
At last, the “Spirit Summoning Scroll: First Half” was in Gonghyeok’s hands.