Radiance and Abyss
Radiance and Abyss
Shin Su-ah joined me on the way to the gate.
After chatting with another Awakened a moment ago, she approached and waved to greet me.
"Nidhogg-nim!!"
"You came?"
"Yes. I was late because I had a handover to take care of."
"Handover?"
"Ah, well, since this gate suddenly appeared right in front of the Dragon's Nest Gate where Nidhogg-nim is, the Association judged it might be related to Nidhogg-nim. So, Baek Yeon-ssi and I received the on-site control authority. You're going to enter the gate now, right?"
"Right? We can't just leave it as is."
"Yes. I handed over the on-site control authority to an Association-affiliated Awakened so I could follow you in once Nidhogg-nim enters."
"I see."
The three of us, with Shin Su-ah now joined, arrived in front of the gate.
The gate entrance was billowing with black haze.
Even though we had approached this closely, I still couldn't tell anything through detection.
It wasn't right to leave it alone, and if I couldn't detect it, it would be the same unless I brought someone like Odin or Ratatoskr.
I carefully brought my front paw to the gate, ready to respond immediately if anything happened.
"Hm?"
My front paw, upon touching the gate, slipped right inside without any resistance.
Furthermore, even though I had inserted part of my body into the gate, the gate showed no abnormal reaction.
"It went in."
"It really went in."
The two looked at my front paw, which had entered without any resistance, with wonder.
Is there some kind of problem?
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Actually, we conducted a simple experiment before Nidhogg-nim arrived."
"We tried to send a remotely controllable robot into the gate, but it was blocked at the entrance and couldn't enter."
"What? Then why does my front paw go in so naturally?"
"We're curious about that too."
Feeling uneasy, I pulled my front paw out from inside the gate.
The front paw that came out of the gate looked perfectly fine.
"You guys try putting your hands in this time."
"Eh?"
"Understood."
Unlike Shin Su-ah, who reacted with hesitation, Baek Yeon pushed her hand into the gate without any doubt.
And as expected, Baek Yeon's hand also entered the inside of the gate without any resistance.
Shin Su-ah, who had hesitated for a moment, also reached her hand into the gate, and her hand also entered the inside without any resistance.
"Can only living creatures enter?"
"That seems to be the most plausible reason for now."
"Well. The only way to know more is to go inside and judge for myself."
Whether this gate only allows living creatures to enter, or if it only allows us to enter.
Since there didn't seem to be anything more to learn here, we entered the gate.
Passing through the black haze, my vision went pitch black for a moment.
A strange sensation of passing through a passage where nothing could be seen.
When my vision returned after a short blackout.
The scenery that unfolded before our eyes was completely unexpected.
-Waaaaaah!!
-For The One!!
-It is the holy war of the great light!!
-Kill the hypocrites!
-We shall offer their blood and flesh to The One!
-Bury them in the darkness!
White armor and black armor.
Light and darkness.
Good and evil.
Two sharply divided groups were clashing on a vast plain.
A battlefield where light flashed and darkness covered the ground.
A cruel scene where they sought each other's lives without taking a single step back.
We were looking down at that sight, standing on a hill a little distance away.
"A battlefield?"
"Wow, how many people are there?"
"Just by eye, there are at least ten thousand on both sides."
Ten thousand isn't just 10,000.
Both sides were waging war leading armies of tens of thousands.
Warriors and mages filling the vast battlefield.
And the huge castle visible in the distance.
Is that the main base?
If you add the troops that would be at the main base, I think the number of all troops inside the gate would easily exceed 100,000.
I finished checking the surroundings lightly.
Looking down at the fierce war from the hill, I asked.
"So, what now?"
"We don't know either, as this is our first time with a gate like this."
"Shouldn't we just pick a side and win?"
"Is that so?"
It wasn't certain, but Baek Yeon's opinion was reasonable.
Since nothing would change by just staying here, I was pondering for a moment which side to fight on, when.
Ding-♪
Along with a cheerful notification sound, a translucent window appeared before my eyes for the first time in a long while.
[You have entered Radiance and Abyss.]
[To clear this gate, you must choose one of the two.]
[1. Stand with the Belobog faction and annihilate Chernobog's kin.]
[Reward: Blessing of Belobog]
[2. Stand with the Chernobog faction and annihilate Belobog's kin.]
[Reward: Blessing of Chernobog]
[Failure: The god's kin, consumed by madness, will escape the gate.]
It was the same type of translucent window I had seen when I followed Shin Su-ah into gates that held certain fated opportunities.
However, if there was a difference from what I saw back then, it was that options appeared this time.
I read the translucent window that appeared before my eyes thoroughly from beginning to end.
Radiance and Abyss seemed to refer to the white faction and the black faction in front of me.
Belobog and Chernobog?
Both are names I've heard through Yoo Da-eun.
Especially in the case of Chernobog, it's a name I've even heard today.
Wasn't it Chernobog's Holy Relic that Koschei was supposed to receive in exchange for helping Baba Yaga?
"A conflict between an evil god and a good god."
"Do you know something?"
"Yeah. Belobog is a god in mythology who rules over light, the sun, and goodness, and Chernobog is an evil god who rules over darkness, death, and evil."
"Then the choice leans to one side."
"It would be better to help the good god rather than the evil god, right?"
The two people who heard my explanation said it as if their minds were already made up.
Belobog. The good god of light and the sun.
Just looking at the domains they rule, choosing Belobog was the standard choice.
Even I, when I first read it, had my eyes go straight to option 1.
However.
"Something is strange..."
"Yes?"
"No, is a gate that suddenly appeared right in front of the Dragon's Nest Gate where my main body is, and was even wrapped in black haze at the entrance, really this simple?"
"...It is certainly a bit suspicious."
"Right?"
When I quickly pointed out the questionable point, Baek Yeon also agreed.
If this had been a gate we came to find as a fated opportunity due to Shin Su-ah's choice, I would have chosen 1 without hesitation.
That's why I understand why the two of them leaned towards 1.
But isn't this a gate that looked like a trap from the start?
And it's a situation where I'm suspicious that it's a trap laid by Baba Yaga, who was cooperating with Koschei, due to the option that just appeared.
We need to choose carefully.
Before choosing an option, I first explained to the two what had happened since yesterday, and about Koschei's memories.
"Given the unique gate that appeared suddenly and Nidhogg-nim's words, the possibility of it being a trap is too high."
"But didn't you say that the thing the existence called Baba Yaga had was Chernobog's Holy Relic? I think it's still right to choose 1 if we are to choose."
"I disagree. It feels like it's showing us to choose this side too blatantly."
"But isn't it also suspicious to choose 2?"
"That is why it is even more of a problem. Judging by what Nidhogg-nim said, the existence called Baba Yaga seems to be the type to use her head from behind rather than stepping forward, and if I were such an existence, I wouldn't have installed a trap on just one side, but would have set the board so that we would fall into a trap no matter where we chose."
"So both 1 and 2 are wrong? But then we can't clear the gate."
"That is..."
Listening to the discussion between the two, I racked my brain hard.
I consider both of their opinions reasonable.
In particular, the possibility that both sides are traps, as Baek Yeon said, cannot be ignored.
Therefore, after thinking carefully, I decided.
"Alright. Then let's do this."
"What are you going to do?"
"I will follow Nidhogg-nim's opinion."
"It feels fishy to pick either one. There's a possibility both are traps. Then there's only one correct answer."
The third option.
Kill both sides.
An old hut in a secluded forest.
A woman is sitting in a rocking chair in front of a fireplace lit with firewood.
Black hair grown long enough to touch the floor and golden eyes.
The identity of the woman wearing round, monocle-like glasses is none other than Baba Yaga.
She was reading a thick book sitting in front of the fireplace, but sensed something and closed the book she was reading.
"You've finally entered."
In her vision, as she lifted her head, it wasn't the ceiling of the old hut that was reflected, but a different landscape.
A vast battlefield, a desperate struggle, the confrontation between good and evil.
The inside of the gate named Radiance and Abyss, and the trap she had prepared with all her heart.
"Now, what choice will you make."
Belobog and Chernobog.
A good god and an evil god.
What choice Nidhogg will make among the two given options.
Baba Yaga waited for his choice with a face full of anticipation.
Because, as Baek Yeon expected, both were traps.
There is no trap in the quest proceeding inside the gate.
Whether they choose the good god or the evil god, if it's Nidhogg and his party, they can clear it without any problems.
And the trap she prepared is after clearing the quest.
The 'Blessing' that came out as a reward.
On the surface, it looks like an infinitely good word.
However, the true meaning of the blessing meant being subjugated to a god.
To be connected to a god through the blessing, and to be subjugated.
"Well, the blessing wouldn't work on a dragon, though."
As she said, even if it were a god's blessing, if it were someone like Nidhogg, he would rather devour it than be bound by a god.
That is why what Baba Yaga aimed for was Shin Su-ah and Baek Yeon.
Having noticed that Nidhogg cherished the two while observing the all-out war between Koschei and Nidhogg, she targeted the two people.
The moment the two are subjugated to a god.
"I shall use the opposing attribute to cast a curse."
Baba Yaga, who had prepared a ritual to go beyond mortality to the path of immortality this time, could not even begin the ritual due to Nidhogg's interference.
So she prepared this trap for that revenge.
Since she couldn't do anything to Nidhogg with her own power by common sense, she prepared a trap to destroy what he cherished instead.
And until now, everything was going according to her plan.
The three who entered the gate.
The options that appeared before their eyes.
Since it was almost certain that they would choose Belobog based on the two's tendencies.
She had finished preparing to cast a curse using the ritual materials she had prepared to escape mortality.
"Now, hurry and choose!"
Indeed, when the human you cherish dies.
What kind of expression will you make?
She, who was looking forward to what choice the three would make with a twisted smile, was met with exactly this.
"Eh?"
It was Nidhogg, breathing fire with all his might in the middle of the battlefield.