Chapter 149
Chapter 149
Chapter 149
Alien Temple (2)
-User protection emergency program activated.
-Severe level soul contamination detected.
-Neutralization initiated.
-Level 12 divinity detected.
-Neutralization impossible.
-Physical transformation and mental contamination levels at maximum.
-Master 'Kim Seong-jun's biological death in 35 seconds.
-Final program execution.
-Eldorado, maximum causality potential dormant in Dilmun activated.
-External interference confirmed. Judged not to harm user's body.
-Final program execution canceled.
-Fusing Leviathan's core with external divinity. 13 hours 24 minutes until completion.
-Forced evolution into higher being due to divine fusion. 99.8% possibility of Master's mental transformation.
-Forced cancellation of fusion. To interfere with divinity, main body's functions...
-Code Arcadia. Deus... Ex...
-Temporary authority acquired. Reverting Master's body to previous state.
-Virtual implementation program, Paradise activated. Implementation rate 60%.
...
...
-User protection complete. Synchronization temporarily released.
-Entering dormant state.
***
"Urgh...!"
Rudian's eyes naturally opened with a skull-splitting headache.
"Huff, huff..."
His body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.
What on earth happened the moment he crossed the gate?
"Have you awakened?"
"...Who, who is it?"
From above his prostrate head, a young boy's voice was heard.
"You still seem confused. Let me help you a little."
"...!"
The moment he felt delicate hands touch the back of his head.
SWOOOOSH!
His mind, which had been foggy like mist, began to clear immediately.
His body was still heavy, but at least his mind became lucid.
When he raised his head, a black-haired boy was looking down at Rudian.
"Yev?"
"Hehe..."
Though the gender was different, the appearance was so similar to the fully humanized Yev that they could be considered siblings.
The boy spoke with a peculiar smile.
"I am called Nug. Yev and I are twin siblings."
"..."
It was an unfamiliar name.
In the first place, in there was only the setting that numerous gods existed in the alien realm, but only a handful actually appeared prominently...
"This way. Mother is waiting."
After saying this, Nug turned around and began walking steadily somewhere.
'Have I...arrived?'
Rudian barely managed to center himself and followed Nug.
The surrounding scenery was chaotic beyond description—countless colors mixed disorderly in a way that could hardly be called worldly.
Only because the ground was flat could he barely maintain his center of gravity; otherwise, walking would have been difficult due to even basic depth perception being distorted.
Rudian called for Adi to understand the current situation.
But...
'Adi?'
-...
'Diablo?'
-...
For some reason, there was no response from Adi or Diablo.
'...Come to think of it!'
The sword-shaped Diablo that was always attached to his waist had disappeared at some point!
Adi also wasn't responding despite continued calls.
SHIVER...!
As his absolute psychological defense line was breached, cold sweat began flowing down Rudian's spine.
La, la, la-!
While he was blankly following behind Nug, at some point a bizarre singing voice began to be heard.
But it was definitely not a pleasant voice to hear.
"...Urgh!"
It felt like a goat trying to imitate a human voice?
It was the kind of singing that made inexplicable unpleasantness well up from deep within his heart.
'Stay calm.'
If he let his guard down even a little, some sticky emotion was trying to dominate his reason.
He couldn't imagine what would happen to him the moment that occurred.
"Remarkable."
While Rudian was barely managing to control his mind, Nug, who had been silently walking ahead, suddenly turned around and spoke.
"Even gods find it difficult to maintain composure in this place."
"Whoo, whoo..."
Rudian, who had no leisure to respond, simply followed silently behind Nug.
"No matter how much that one helped you...you're certainly someone Mother and Yev would be interested in. Hehe, how intriguing."
Perhaps understanding Rudian's situation, Nug didn't particularly try to converse after that and simply continued guiding.
After walking for an unknown amount of time...
Finally, he escaped from this damned environment that looked like paint carelessly mixed together.
The place they arrived at was a giant dark canyon shrouded in purple darkness.
It was a place that could never be called a temple—more like a sealing ground.
"Welcome."
"...!"
At the center of that canyon, a black-haired beauty with massive horns sprouting from both sides of her forehead came into view.
Shub, the god of chaos who ruled the alien realm.
She had appeared.
***
Would this be what Yev would look like if the human-formed Yev grew a bit more?
But what was surprising was that Shub, who had no need to take human form, had specifically chosen to greet him in human appearance.
"You seem puzzled that I'm not in the form of a black goat."
"..."
He wanted to say something, but he felt that enormous mental power would be consumed just to utter a single word.
'I never thought I'd experience the reason Yev suppressed her personality in this way...'
While having this thought, Shub drew a smile with both her index fingers.
"Still, since it's been 300,000 years since our last visitor, changing to a form comfortable for conversation would be considerate, wouldn't it?"
Rudian was momentarily speechless.
Was she claiming that this was some kind of service?
Originally, Abel's party would have been greeted here by the massive goat form made of galaxies...
Considering that, this appearance was indeed a service.
"Yes, you who should not exist, poor child caught up in the Creator God's whim, what have you come to ask me?"
"You...know...that?"
Rudian unconsciously spoke aloud.
His throat was severely constricted, forcing him to speak briefly, but somehow basic communication seemed possible.
"Of course I know. I haven't been stuck in this place since the creation of this universe for nothing."
While other gods enjoyed life through games and wars, Shub had never once left her temple, existing as an observer for eons.
By confining herself, the recoil from the constraints made Shub's authority even stronger, eventually reaching a singularity and stepping into the Creator God's domain.
Of course, this didn't mean Shub had become equal to the Creator God, but having reached the singularity, Shub possessed tremendous status incomparable to ordinary gods.
"But you've come too early."
"Why?"
"Originally, the time for you to arrive here would be after the age of apocalypse passes. After you truly conclude the story's ending."
...Considering Shub's status, and if she truly knew that Rudian was an 'outsider,' those words weren't wrong.
But there was something he didn't understand.
"The Purple World?"
If Rudian truly followed Abel's path, naturally collecting the Seven Worlds would be the natural order.
Accordingly, he would have to reach this place once to obtain the Purple World...
"Ah, you mean this?"
Shub bent down and picked up something that had been rolling around nearby.
The way she handled it so carelessly, like picking up a roadside pebble, made him momentarily doubt whether that was really the Purple World.
'The Purple World!'
The last of the seven, effectively the strongest of the Seven Worlds.
"Hehe, the Seven Worlds... The Creator God's cursed legacy that all gods want to eliminate."
Shub cast a gaze filled with love and hate toward the purple crystal, then swallowed it whole.
"...!"
"I'd like to just give it to you, but even so, that would be too much of a shortcut."
Shub smiled with indecipherable meaning and slowly rose from her seat, approaching Rudian.
That alone...the dense divinity and Outer Force dominating the entire space churned, showing signs of trying to devour everything with form around them.
'Gaaaah!'
Rudian desperately held back the scream that was about to burst out.
SWOOOOSH!
Like a lump of salt dissolving in water, Rudian's body was also on the verge of being eroded and dissolved by the Outer Force.
"One trivial curiosity. And one truth you're genuinely curious about. These two things are what you want, right?"
Shub looked down at Rudian, who was gritting his teeth and facing her directly.
"I can teach you enough about the former. But the second will have to wait quite a while."
WIIING!
With a sound like metal faintly ringing, Adi was pulled out from Rudian's head.
"Adi!"
Unlike usual, Adi had his eye tightly closed and wasn't moving at all.
He appeared to be in a dormant state.
"He really worked hard to save you. It's the first time I've seen the God of Mechanical Devices make such effort for an outsider who isn't even his creator."
"What do you...plan to do...with Adi?"
"Nothing in particular? I have no intention of doing anything. If anything, I'm cheering you on. Because of your and this one's existence... I can finally close the singularity."
The last words were spoken so quietly that Rudian, who was fighting pain, couldn't pay attention to them.
Shub infused some unknown energy into Adi's body and handed him to Rudian.
Rudian, who received Adi's body from Shub, stared blankly at Adi, who still wasn't moving.
'Come to think of it, is this the first time I'm touching this guy like this?'
Except for when this guy had given him a 'forehead flick' when they first met, there didn't seem to be any memory of contact.
It felt like touching well-coated rubber.
'...Smooth.'
SWOOSH!
While having such idle thoughts, Adi's body slipped into Rudian as if assimilating with him.
"Having used all his power to protect you, he'll be in a rest period for a while."
"..."
CREAK!
Rudian desperately pulled himself together from falling into self-loathing.
'Because of my stubbornness...'
This was the result of a gamble entered without calculating the odds.
But if he returned like this, it would be the worst course—wasting time and suffering losses.
"Give me information."
"Hehehe, good."
Shub's black-and-white inverted eyes drew an enchanting curve.
"But as I said just before, even though I might know your origin, it's not something I can speak of carelessly. When you reach the conclusion completely, you'll naturally come to know."
At that moment, Rudian learned the exact time of the alien invasion and the reason it would take that long.
'152 days...'
The reason it took longer than expected was the time North and Garganta needed to bypass Berus's eyes and disable the planetary system's barrier.
'At least there's time to spare.'
However, the bad news was that Adi had fallen into a dormant state for a while.
For Rudian, who had relied on Adi's abilities for over 90%, it was a painful situation.
'Can I do well without Adi?'
Without Adi, even movement would become difficult immediately, but he couldn't just sit idle.
"Let me give you one piece of advice."
"...?"
Rudian blankly listened to Shub's advice.
Honestly, it was somewhat vague, but he still listened to the end and engraved it in his heart.
...
After finishing a few words of advice, Shub pressed Rudian's forehead with her finger.
"Then I'll look forward to the day you return here seeking the Purple World."
That was his last memory in Shub's temple.
THUD!
***
When Rudian opened his eyes again.
"Rudian? Why are you here...?"
"Huh?"
Rudian's eyes widened at the sudden appearance before him...or rather, he had appeared before the other person, but anyway, at this unexpected encounter with an old acquaintance.
Before he could even wonder why that person was before his eyes, Rudian naturally called out the other's name.
"Knight Derrick?"