Chapter 153
Chapter 153
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 153
Chapter Title: The Third Night (4)
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As the night began.
Aheta gazed down at the earth through the "moon" and thought to himself.
"Archmage. You will surely choose the mage camp."
The Archmage who had taken "Baal's Belt" from his treasure vault.
No matter how many times he thought about it, the guy was incredibly insolent.
He had no idea what method he used, but the bastard had pulled off all sorts of bizarre feats and miracles, dominating the "second night" completely.
As if he had lost all fear, ignoring Aheta, the lord of the moon.
Honestly, it was intriguing.
That confidence and audacity of his.
So, he had openly provoked him.
Mentioning the mysteries and dividing the camps—one of the reasons for that.
He was certain the Archmage wouldn't dodge his challenge.
If he truly saw himself as an "Archmage," he wouldn't bother picking another camp.
"He'll push his abilities to the limit again this time. He'd know he can't fully utilize a mage's powers if he chooses another camp."
Each camp demanded different skills.
Entering a camp for another class meant you couldn't score well—it was structured that way.
Anyone with a brain could predict that much.
Besides, the Archmage had been sharp enough to pierce through every hidden mechanism Aheta had set up during the night.
There was no way the Archmage didn't grasp Aheta's intentions.
In fact, the guy had seemed to use magic.
He would definitely accept the challenge.
"I'll find you."
Aheta's gaze focused intently on the "mage camp."
This "third night" was something he had prepared meticulously.
Punish the thieves, satisfy the conditions to summon the Temple of Death, and blanket the entire Earth in "death"—that was Aheta's goal.
He hadn't forgotten the humiliation from the first and second nights.
He had become a laughingstock among the other Creators, enduring endless mockery.
To shed this disgrace, he had to win no matter what.
And along with that, he planned to wipe out humanity itself.
"I don't know whose incarnation you are, but in the end, most of the miracles on Earth were your doing."
Aheta was convinced the Archmage was an incarnation.
However, even if the "Archmage" was an incarnation of a demon god, it didn't matter to him.
Even if it was one of the great nine lords, the same went.
As long as he held the authority of the "night," they couldn't easily turn against Aheta.
Moreover, Aheta believed the Archmage was involved in many of the miracles that had occurred on Earth.
There was no such thing as "human potential" that the Creators questioned.
It was only him.
The Archmage.
Eliminate that bastard, and human potential was nothing to worry about.
With the Super Blue Moon in play, their extinction was already sealed.
Aheta smiled as he watched the "mage camp."
"Where are you, Archmage?"
Contrary to Aheta's thoughts, Park Chan-woo had chosen the "warrior camp."
There was no need to accept the challenge head-on.
As long as he somehow secured a win, that was enough.
The moment he entered, Park Chan-woo looked around.
"What, it's this huge?"
"These rocks are 'black iron'?"
"Whoa, there's a ton of them."
"Just how big is this Abyss?"
In front of everyone, rocks of various shapes named "black iron" appeared.
...It was on an enormous scale.
Like a go board, countless rocks stood at regular intervals.
People were summoned in front of each one.
The number seemed at least 500,000.
"We have to cut these black rocks?"
"What, they're this tough!"
"Not even a scratch—feels like my arm's gonna fall off!"
It was a simple test: just swing your sword and make a scratch on the rock.
People grabbed their weapons and struck immediately, but scratches weren't as easy as they'd thought.
The success rate was maybe around 5% at best.
Park Chan-woo quietly stared at the black iron in front of him.
"Black iron. The most common and useless ore."
Black iron was the most abundant ore in the Abyss.
However, it was tricky to process, and even made into gear, the quality was poor—no one wanted it even for free. It was trash.
Since it was useless anyway, they must have used it for the test.
Death Knight Gula was relaying his words from afar.
With so many people, he couldn't supervise them all personally, so this was how it went.
Or maybe he saw no reason to show himself before weak lifeforms.
"He'll show up once the test progresses."
What was certain was that the content of this "third night" differed from what he knew.
Aheta had completely reset the board.
He couldn't exploit any gaps based on memories of the future.
"But this territory is far more valuable than the one from the past third night."
If anything, it was better.
An incredibly vast expanse.
The amount of useless black iron was huge, but that was limited to the black iron itself.
The land with black iron was rated top-tier in terms of geomantic power.
Mana overflowed, enough to awaken countless "mysteries."
In other words...
"Signus will love this."
A Creator Abyss incomparable to a fox den.
No, incomparable to any Creator Abyss.
If Signus could devour the territory of the "third night," it could achieve growth so steep that no other competing divine beasts could touch it.
"Is this really scratched?"
"Not even a nick?"
"My strength is over 60!"
People gritted their teeth and hammered the black iron.
Even meeting the conditions, making a proper scratch was no easy feat.
That was why black iron was rated the worst ore.
Crack!
Twaang!
"M-my sword!"
"This is insane!"
"The sword broke!"
Moreover, its temper was so vicious that processing it was tough.
For the same reason, weapons' durability drained quickly upon contact.
Sounds of blades chipping and shattering echoed everywhere.
Because of these traits, it was occasionally used for city walls, but the Abyss had far better ores everywhere.
No reason to use hard-to-process black iron.
"They said strength over 50 would do it!"
"What kind of test is this?"
"Agh! This sword I barely got!"
Thus, even those with high strength rarely made proper scratches.
The moment everyone's eyes filled with disbelief...
Suddenly, the top 10 rankings appeared.
The ranking window displayed names alongside scratch lengths.
"Familiar names all over the place."
Past powerhouses were mixed in heavily.
Plus, three Koreans made it.
Lee Hyuk-soo, Lim Chang-yeol, and Han Min-oh were all on the list.
"Lee Hyuk-soo and Lim Chang-yeol have handled weapons for ages, so that's fine, but Han Min-oh just picked up a sword recently."
And he hit 10th place.
Among hundreds of thousands of warriors.
Even with brilliant talent, wasn't this growth too steep?
...Well, he was Han Shin's bloodline, after all.
A time limit was given.
Because the test was so straightforward.
Park Chan-woo shrugged his shoulders.
Shing!
He gripped his sword.
A plain iron sword.
One he'd hastily bought from the demon merchant Dagon.
However, it had no special traits, abilities, or even options—just a regular sword.
"Until I get a proper sword, a basic one is better."
As long as it worked in the Abyss.
Park Chan-woo steadied his breath.
And then.
Swish!
Quickly, he swung the sword down.
Death Knight Gula.
He clicked his tongue as he watched the pathetic humans' attempts from afar.
"Tsk tsk. With that level of skill, you think you can face the 'Temple of Death'?"
They'd be lucky not to get massacred before reaching it.
Their level was so mismatched he didn't even want to show himself.
"Consider yourselves fortunate this is the 'third night.'"
The domain of night.
A place to balance and compete for victory or defeat.
If this were a normal Creator Abyss outside the night's domain, humans would have turned to dust the moment they entered.
"Hardly any can even read the grain of black iron properly."
The trick to handling black iron lay in reading its grain.
You had to precisely follow the fine grain with your sword to make a big scratch.
Yet, fewer than 100 humans could even read and cut along the grain properly.
And even then, the scratches were laughably small.
Gula shook his head at the thought of going to war with such fools.
He could slaughter them all alone.
Forcing a level match wouldn't help against the "Death Legion," honed over eons.
"Death alone is supreme."
This was why living beings were no good.
Living things were inferior.
They could only train during their fleeting lifespans.
In contrast, Gula and the "Death Legion" were different.
They could grow without time limits.
As long as they followed their sole lord, Aheta.
In the past, Gula had been a renowned knight, but embracing death and following Aheta granted him infinite power.
Thus.
"You too shall join the temple... Hm?"
Enter the temple and accept death's glory.
That was what he meant to say.
But the rankings updated out of nowhere.
"What?"
Gula checked the changed rankings and shook his head several times.
But the new rankings and details didn't change.
In disbelief, Gula muttered.
"Destroyed... the black iron?"