Chapter 455: True Word
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 455: True Word
Ting-
「You have massacred a large number of humans.」
「+15,248 WP」
「Current WP: 164,173」
「Your Evil (惡) Karma has increased.」
「Evil Karma: 2」
Tossing aside my blood-soaked black clothes, I looked at the screen before me with a pleased expression. As expected of an elder from a large clan, he had a considerable amount of WP.
But in exchange, my Evil Karma had gone up.
I frowned instinctively.
Killing people doesn't automatically raise your Evil Karma, but the more you kill, the higher the probability becomes.
Unless you're incredibly unlucky, killing just a dozen or so people shouldn't increase your karma.
‘...Don't tell me my bad luck has kicked in?’
No related message had appeared, but given everything I'd been through, I couldn't help but have my suspicions.
Pushing aside the unsettling feeling in my chest, I swiped the screen away.
My Evil Karma had increased unexpectedly, but it was still within an acceptable range.
However, if it surpassed a certain threshold, I would need to be careful.
If your Evil Karma gets too high, a bounty is placed on your head throughout the Tower, and even your access to cities becomes restricted.
Furthermore, you're ostracized by Good-aligned Constellations while attracting the attention of Evil-aligned ones.
If you were to ask whether that was a good thing, I would confidently shake my head.
Because unless you're a complete madman, it's impossible to satisfy the bizarre needs of Evil-aligned Constellations.
‘It should be fine for now.’
“Constellation, are you listening?”
Ting-
「The Constellation, 'Monarch of the Underworld', is watching you.」
The Monarch of the Underworld responded the moment I spoke into the air.
I instinctively swallowed dryly.
Just a few hours ago, I had spoken to him casually, but after witnessing him crush a Constellation like a baseball under a hydraulic press, I couldn't bring myself to treat him the same way.
The Guide of the Underworld.
Through the 'Incomplete Moon's Eye,' I had identified him. He was Black Impermanence, one of the Black and White Impermanence—a pair of Underworld Emissaries who guide the souls of the dead to the underworld, serving King Yama, one of the Ten Kings of the Underworld.
He was by no means a low-ranking Constellation, yet he died without being able to put up any real resistance.
He had literally been annihilated.
At that moment, a question occurred to me.
Until the very end, the 'Guide of the Underworld' never wavered in his blind loyalty to the 'Monarch of the Underworld'.
Even as his body twisted and he died, he only begged for mercy, never resenting or cursing the Monarch.
If the 'Monarch of the Underworld' had just said the word, he would have fled, even if it meant unilaterally breaking his contract with Eumjin.
But the Monarch didn't do that.
Instead, he ended things by brutally killing the 'Guide of the Underworld'.
His cold-heartedness worried me for a moment, but I soon shook my head.
‘...Considering he was trying to save his own contractor, he probably isn't an Evil-aligned Constellation.’
The only reason I attacked the players from Boundless Heaven Sect was because I had accepted a request from the 'Monarch of the Underworld'.
Honestly, I still don't know why he made such a request.
He was nowhere to be seen when Wi Ryeong-ah was on the verge of death during the test.
Ting-
「The Constellation, 'Monarch of the Underworld', presents you with a choice.」
「Ⅰ. Underworld Ink Lotus Stone Garlic」
「Ⅱ. Underworld Petition」
「Underworld Ink Lotus Stone Garlic
Classification: Consumable Item
Rank: A+
A stone garlic that grows only near the stagnant springs of the Underworld.
It is characterized by its ink-black color and contains a powerful Yin energy.」
The reward the 'Monarch of the Underworld' offered me for this job was the Underworld Ink Lotus Stone Garlic.
An A+ rank elixir, no less.
The moment I read the description about it containing strong Yin energy, Cheon Yeo-hwa's face was the first thing that came to mind.
Although it wasn't an elixir related to demonic energy, it would be a great help to her, as she practiced the Moon Spirit Demonic Art, which is based on Yin energy.
I was about to take the stone garlic right away, but a second, unheard-of option appeared before my eyes.
「Underworld Petition
Classification: -
Rank: -
Your earnest wish for the underworld shall surely be granted.」
The text of the second option looked subtly bolder.
It was as if it were openly pressuring me to choose it.
“...Constellation?”
I stared into the air for a long time, but no answer came.
I sighed and reached out my hand.
Ting-
「You have acquired the 'Underworld Petition'.」
「Beings from the Underworld are watching you.」
「The Constellation, 'Great Sage Who Bestows Mercy', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Opener of the First Judgment Gate', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Punisher Who Boils Sins', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Heart That Holds Eternal Chill', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Master of the Sword Forest', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Judge Who Retracts Tongues', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Shadow of the Serpent's Den', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'The Mountain that Crushes Injustice', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Scales of the Scaffold', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Wind That Blocks the Path', reveals its presence.」
「The Constellation, 'Appointer of Reincarnation', reveals its presence.」
˙
˙
˙
The moment countless screens filled my vision, a flood of 'gazes' from all directions began to crush my very being.
They were Constellations.
Splat-!
Receiving the gazes of not one or two, but over a dozen Constellations at once, I felt my breath catch in my throat.
I collapsed into a pool of blood, clutching my chest and gasping for air.
It felt as if someone was strangling me.
Just as my vision began to blur—
「The Constellation, 'Saintess of Uruk', glares.」
「“Get lost, all of you.”」
“Gasp!!”
A familiar message appeared before my eyes.
In that instant, all the unfamiliar gazes fixed on me vanished.
It was like rain after a long drought.
“Haa, haa, haa...”
My vision slowly cleared, and I could finally catch my breath.
With a trembling hand, I chugged water from a plastic bottle. As the cold water ran down my throat, I managed to calm down a little.
“...Thank you, Lady Ishtar.”
「The Constellation, 'Saintess of Uruk', smiles.」
「“If you're grateful, you know what to do, right? The key.”」
I was about to bow respectfully, but I let out a small laugh when I saw the message.
I was starting to get scared, wondering what on earth she planned to do by dragging a mere player into her domain.
*
Wi Ryeong-ah walked down the ravaged hallway.
“...Master.”
Soon, she came face to face with Eumjin, who lay on the floor with his head severed from his body.
She knelt and closed his eyes with a bitter expression.
She had heard the gist of the story from Kang Hyun-woo, but hearing it and seeing it with her own eyes were two completely different things.
‘...To think my master tried to kill me.’
Honestly, she still couldn't believe it.
Of course, when he had abandoned her in the forest and given up on the test, she had felt resentful, hateful, and angry.
But she swore she had never once thought of killing them.
Wi Ryeong-ah observed a brief moment of silence before getting up.
The hem of her skirt was stained with blood, but she didn't seem to mind.
“Young Master Kang, thank you so much.”
Wi Ryeong-ah bowed respectfully to Kang Hyun-woo.
“You've saved my life not once, but twice... I don't know how I can ever repay this debt.”
“You don't have to worry about it. Your Constellation, Miss Wi, has already paid the price.”
“My Constellation did...?”
I smiled, thinking of the stone garlic in my inventory.
The 'Monarch of the Underworld' was far more generous than I'd imagined. As if the choice had been a joke from the start, he had readily given me the Underworld Ink Lotus Stone Garlic.
It was enough to make me willingly overlook the fact that I'd nearly fainted because of the Underworld Constellations.
“Um... Young Master Kang...?”
I turned at her voice and saw her fidgeting with her fingers, cautiously watching my reaction.
“...I know this is shameless, but could I ask you for a favor?”
“A favor?”
Wi Ryeong-ah pointed to the corpses of the Ghost Spirit Valley cultivators scattered across the hallway.
“These bodies here... may I have them?”
“...What?”
Contrary to her shy expression, her request was rather gruesome, and I was slightly taken aback.
But then I remembered that Wi Ryeong-ah practiced the Ghost Cultivation Method.
“Is it for your cultivation training?”
“Yes. The Ghost Soul Spirit King's Path I practice is a method that aims to artificially create a Ghost King by gathering spirits. The souls of cultivators have a strong attachment to the mortal world, so if I use their bodies as a medium, I can call their souls back before they go to the underworld. And the soul of a cultivator would certainly make for excellent material.”
Seeing her eyes sparkle, I inwardly let out a dry laugh.
I thought she was depressed over the betrayal of her master and peers, but here she was, already thinking of using their souls as training material for her cultivation method.
Now I think I understood how Wi Ryeong-ah had managed to obtain an S-rank exclusive trait and form a contract with a deity of the underworld.
“Take them. I was just going to burn them anyway.”
“Thank you!”
While Wi Ryeong-ah gathered the corpses in one place, I leaned against the wall and took a book out from my coat.
「■■ Introductory Manual
Classification: Consumable Item
Rank: B-
This is a book for starting the true and untrue secret language.
Upon completion, you will automatically acquire the related knowledge.」
It was the reward I received from the Dancing Destroyer.
I'd been so busy since before the 5th Floor test ended that I hadn't even had a chance to check it properly.
‘A true and untrue secret language...’
It was a very vague, abstract description.
But as a B-rank item, it couldn't be a useless piece of junk.
Especially considering the identity of the 'Dancing Destroyer'.
Of course, I had no concrete proof of his identity, but after he had single-handedly suppressed a fight between Ishtar and Fenrir, who were supreme deities, and then looked down upon the world with three eyes, circumstantially, it could only point to one being.
But I didn't dare speak his name, nor even think of it.
For some reason, it felt like the 'Dancing Destroyer' wanted it that way.
‘No matter how I think about it, he seems like an evil god impersonating someone else...’
Shwick-
Pushing the irreverent thought aside, I opened the book, whose title I couldn't even read.
Inside, it was filled with scribbles that looked like crawling worms.
It wasn't English, Japanese, or Chinese.
‘...Sanskrit?’
It is the ancestor of most Indic languages belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-Iranian subgroup of the Indo-European language family, with its origins tracing back to Vedic Sanskrit, created around 1500 B.C.
I had stumbled upon the language by chance in the Magic Tower's library while looking for magic books written before the common era.
Of course, there were conveniently translated versions available, so I didn't need to learn Sanskrit, but I had taken a personal interest and taught myself the basics.
From reading and writing the Devanagari script to noun declensions, verb conjugations, and the phonological rule known as Sandhi.
‘...What is this?’
But contrary to its name, 'Introductory Manual,' the book was too esoteric to be read with only basic knowledge.
Moreover, the content itself consisted mostly of abstract, vague sentences.
As I kept reading, I even started to feel a throbbing headache.
Nevertheless, I forced myself to turn the pages. I didn't need to understand the content anyway.
After all, 'finishing a book' simply means reading it to the end.
Thump-
And so, I read through to the last page and closed the book. It took less than five minutes.
And in that moment—
Ting-
「You have acquired the exclusive trait, True Word (D).」