Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 191
Chapter Title: Knight of the Wall
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Finally reaching the 50th floor, Go Woojin stepped toward the unknown level, feeling both tension and excitement.
‘What could be there.'
The number 50 seemed to hold some special meaning.
Babel had yet to reveal even its name or purpose to the outside world.
Naturally, no one knew where Babel truly ended.
'The final floor?'
Was the 50th floor the last one?
Would those who conquered the entirety of Babel become knights—a new kind of existence—and step out into the world?
Or was the 100th floor the end, with the 50th serving as a midpoint for rest and some major change?
—Climb Babel. Up to the 50th floor.
That was what Go Yohan had said.
There had to be a reason for it.
Thus, laden with both tension and excitement, he entered the 50th floor.
—You have entered the 50th floor.
Go Woojin opened his eyes at the familiar voice.
“……!”
And froze in shock.
Roar!
A blazing land, aflame. Something enormous in size.
And.
“Minji!”
Go Minji, who had boldly stepped onto the 50th floor, lay collapsed in a pool of blood.
It had been less than five minutes since her entry.
“Minji—!”
How? How could Minji have been beaten to a pulp in mere minutes?
It was right then, as questions flooded Go Woojin's mind while he instinctively rushed toward her.
Swish.
“……!”
He clamped his mouth shut and widened his eyes once more.
What he had just deemed impossible.
Boom!
Proved entirely rational and justified.
A massive sword tore through the air, shredded space itself, and plummeted down.
'I'm dead.'
Death flashed through his rapidly spinning mind.
Reflexively, he raised both arms to defend.
'Even blocking it, I'm dead.'
Go Woojin realized this attack was something impossible to block.
An instant. Paper-thin.
Boom!
It crashed into the ground, shattering the earth and unleashing a deafening explosion.
“Gah!”
The blast's shockwave ripped a pained scream from him.
One arm shredded by the wind pressure. A leg that wouldn't move.
“…….”
Impossible.
“You, you're...”
The foe who had closed the vast distance in an instant to strike him.
A foe worthy of rendering Go Minji combat-ineffective in under five minutes.
“Surely, in Russia...!”
Six horns. Black skin.
“You died in Russia!”
It was the Orc Great Chieftain, Kartul.
Go Woojin twisted his trembling, collapsing body and charged forward.
Setting aside the impossibility of it all, the urgent priority was Go Minji.
'Please!'
Be safe!
Even believing she couldn't possibly die in five minutes, he couldn't shake the anxiety.
'Please!'
And then.
Swish.
A searing heat from behind.
“Ah...”
The light in Go Woojin's pupils seemed to fade.
He had known it for a long time.
—The Pillar of Divinity is you.
—Yes, Father.
He had followed his father, Go Jaehan's words.
—Bro, congrats.
—Oppa.
His siblings had congratulated him.
Before he knew it, people called him the Golden Knight.
But.
'I didn't want this.'
'I'm not enough.'
'Why me.'
He knew he fell short of being the Pillar of Divinity.
Compared to his siblings' brilliant talents, he possessed no gift as a Player.
'Why does Father.'
Entrust everything to someone like him.
He knew better than anyone that he had the least talent.
'Doesn't Father know that too.'
But he never asked.
Fearing he might lose even that sole shred of worth, he clung desperately to the opportunity instead.
And now.
“Krrk.”
It felt like paying the price for grasping beyond his station.
That thought oddly calmed his racing heart.
'Was I waiting for this moment?'
The moment he could finally set down the crushing burden on his shoulders.
'What happens after I die?'
Everyone would grieve.
Then Yunsu or Minji would inherit the Divinity.
Yohan bore something even greater than that.
But looking further ahead.
'Rather...'
Truly, it was an instant.
They say a life's memories flash by in one's final moments, and this felt just like that.
The chilling sensation and wind pressure from behind—if it fell, he would surely die.
And that was when.
“……!”
He saw Minji.
His one and only little sister, collapsed and groaning.
“If I die.”
Wind pressure pressing to the back of his head.
“What about Minji?”
Minji. Go Minji.
'She's alive.'
Chest swelling. Groans leaking out.
If Minji hadn't died yet.
“No.”
He, Go Woojin, the Pillar of Divinity.
“I can't die yet—!”
He couldn't die.
Boom!
It felt like halted time surged forward.
Though only a fleeting instant, Go Woojin felt his senses and mana sharper than ever.
From the crown of his head to the tips of his toes.
Splash!
As if every nerve connected, an indescribable pleasure washed over him.
He could confidently hurl himself into a pit of fire anytime just to feel this sensation again.
But he didn't succumb to it.
'Please!'
He prayed again.
He could surrender his life without hesitation.
But, but.
—You are the Pillar of Divinity.
—The family head, the family lord must do anything for the family.
—So.
“Not Minji!”
—You must become the master of the Divinity.
Memories flooded like starlight wrapping his body.
His heart pounded as if about to burst, dragging all his senses deeper still.
Crack!
Muscles tore.
Snap!
Bones crumbled with a sickening sound.
His madly thumping heart seemed to scream for him to stop, but he ignored it.
Boom!
The wind pressure from behind closed in right up to him.
Still not enough, he thought.
'Yohan.'
A sudden surge of emotion.
'I'm sorry.'
Truth be told, it was a thought that had lingered since entering the 50th floor.
A thought upon facing this monster, Kartul.
A thought upon seeing Go Minji fallen.
A thought with his own death before him.
'To you...'
Go Yohan.
'I placed too heavy a burden.'
Even now, he had hoped and prayed for Yohan to appear.
Though he hadn't cried it out loud, deep in his mind, he had endlessly called for Yohan alone.
Overwhelming sorry and gratitude welled up for Yohan, who fought such monsters daily to protect them all.
And he recalled the resolve from the lower floors.
'Now.'
He too would accomplish something.
It was then.
Bang!
It felt like an explosion.
Hazy vision. A halted heart. The moment that seemed to herald his death.
[You have succeeded in Piercing Will.]
The system message he thought lost.
[You have discovered the Virtue of the Knight.]
No, it was different.
That voice was clearly not the previous one.
[Knight Appointment begins.]
Boom!
A massive pillar of light engulfed Go Woojin.
*
*
*
It was an indescribable sense of fullness.
From head to toe, it felt like something perfectly fitted into every empty space within him.
Like regaining lost sight and beholding a brilliant blue sky.
Like paralyzed legs moving once more.
He couldn't even grasp how to express what he felt now.
Drugs?
Nothing like that.
This was.
[Knight Appointment begins.]
A miracle.
[Grace activates.]
Evolution.
[Washing away the remnants engraved in the existing body.]
Baptism.
[Divinity descends.]
Blessing.
He had a vivid childhood memory.
—Goddess.
A young child, Go Yohan, seated at the dinner table, uttering the name of a god that didn't exist in this world.
He hadn't paid heed to the voice of little Yohan back then.
Especially.
'God.'
Go Woojin had never believed in any such thing as gods.
He, who from childhood had undergone succession training for the Divinity and witnessed the world's dark, weary underbelly.
—We cannot embrace everything.
The day his father, Go Jaehan, had spoken in pain upon seeing Players dying like trash in the Gates.
—Only one can embrace it all.
His father's eyes had mirrored his own then.
—God alone.
God.
—We are not gods, and no gods exist.
Right. If a god existed, would the world be like this?
But now he knew.
“Aaaah!”
What a god truly was.
What it could bestow.
But he didn't voice what came next.
'Goddess.'
Not the name Yohan had called.
He would never call it that, not now, not ever.
Pahaaa!
For that god shared his blood.
[Will you become a Knight?]
The system asked.
[Will you swear the Knight's Oath?]
It asked again.
[Will you uphold your Knighthood?]
His answer was set.
“I will!”
He now dimly grasped the meaning of knight and accepted it.
[What is your Knighthood?]
The question rang out—one he couldn't have voiced aloud in the past due to his position as the Pillar of Divinity.
But he had once spoken of it with his father.
“My Knighthood is...”
Hwaaak!
“Wall.”
Pahat!
The world seemed bathed in light.
“I will become a wall that protects the precious ones, a wall that guards my family.”
Would someone witnessing this scene scoff?
It didn't matter.
'Laugh all you want.'
He would become a wall that could block even their mockery.
[Knight of the Wall, Go Woojin]
The voice resounded, and his brightened vision cleared.
[You have been appointed as Knight of the Wall.]
And what Go Woojin did was.
Boom!
Cross both arms to block the descending attack.