Chapter 321
Chapter 321
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 321
Chapter Title: Dragon God Sepiro (7)
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If you're going to settle for a half-hearted answer, don't even bother starting.
And if you're going to start something, you might as well see it through to the bitter end.
His opponents were dragons.
Sepiro.
Beings at the pinnacle of the Abyss.
To gain the upper hand against them as a mere human, he had no choice but to give it everything he had.
No, even that wouldn't be enough.
Even if he threw every resource he had—and everything he didn't—into the mix, it still wouldn't suffice.
He would blend truth and lies, impersonate Sepiro to perfection, and overwhelm them.
'I'll shoulder the risk.'
This went beyond high risk—it was a death risk.
Failure meant losing everything.
Success meant claiming it all.
To establish a new throne at the pinnacle of dragons and set the world right.
Of course, if Sepiro ever found out the truth, whether he'd just stand by and watch would be a major issue...
'But the water's already spilled.'
There was no turning back.
He had already made his declaration.
'I will stand at the top of you all!'
The Sanctuary's authority had manifested, imbuing it with compulsion, but it was merely the 'right of succession' that he'd claimed.
The right of succession was proof of existence.
At the very least, it could stand as irrefutable evidence of his connection to Sepiro.
"What throne?"
It was at that moment.
Suddenly, a voice pierced through.
...Bahamut.
The former Dragon God and the strongest being after Sepiro.
"Are you saying you'll establish it here in the Dragon God Temple?"
He had struck at the core.
Sepiro already had a throne.
There was no need to replace it or build a new one.
It was as if he were asking, 'Who are you to declare a new throne?'
Bahamut hadn't fully come around yet.
As long as he harbored doubts, there would be no end to this.
Park Chan-woo agonized over it.
He sifted through Sepiro's memories as if reviewing them.
Everything he had seen and known.
Sepiro's disgust, born from the moment of his creation.
The boredom of one who possessed everything.
The ennui of one who could achieve anything.
And his thoughts on the 'Primordial Dragons' and 'Bahamut'.
A question arose.
Why had they created Sepiro?
What had they hoped to achieve by crafting a perfect being?
What were their goals, and what did Sepiro think of them?
There was one answer.
Truly fitting for Sepiro.
"...It's no fun."
Fun.
Interest.
The absence of such things.
By sharing the memories engraved in Sepiro's heart, Park Chan-woo came to realize it.
He seemed like the incarnation of insatiable desire.
...But Sepiro had no desires.
He lacked any great ambition to accomplish something.
It was the result of a life where he could have anything if he so willed it.
Was he merely walking the path laid out by Bahamut?
Was he ensnared by something called 'fate'?
No matter what he did or what brilliant idea he came up with, wasn't it all just 'fate' in the end...?
He had transcended it all.
He might take interest in something amusing, but only briefly.
In the end, he always reverted to a cynical outlook.
At the center of it all.
Was Bahamut.
Park Chan-woo commanded.
"First, we destroy the Dragon God Temple."
"...?!"
Gasps of shock echoed from the dragons here and there.
If he was going to go big, why not show them a mindset even the mighty Sepiro wouldn't dare?
There was no turning back anyway.
Stagnant water always turns foul.
Of course, he didn't voice that last part.
They'd just say it could be purified with magic.
This Dragon God Temple had been built by the Primordial Dragons.
Bahamut had passed it down to Sepiro.
Thus, declaring its destruction meant drawing a line straight against Bahamut.
"..."
Bahamut's eyes deepened.
There was no reading his thoughts.
Even facing Demon God Gremory hadn't made him this tense.
He kept his composure and continued speaking.
"I have no intention of remaining trapped in the relic of a bygone era. The reconstruction of the destroyed Dragon God Temple will be entrusted to the most outstanding clan."
"Naturally, it will be the Radiant Clan!"
Diar took the lead.
To entrust the reconstruction of a new Dragon God Temple to ordinary dragons.
If possible, what greater honor could there be?
It was a weighty matter.
In many ways.
"Does that mean you're stepping down from the throne of the Dragon God?"
Bahamut intoned heavily.
This Dragon God Temple was a place that symbolized the dignity of the Dragon God.
Handing it over to other clans meant abandoning the seat of 'god'.
A god must be different.
To lower his gaze and walk alongside the dragons... It sounded noble, but it wasn't right.
At least not from a god's perspective.
Even Sepiro up to now had never dared suggest destroying and rebuilding the Dragon God Temple.
"You are Sepiro, yet...?"
"To interpret my declaration of a new throne in such a petty way—how regrettable."
"...Then?"
He cut off Bahamut's words.
Mocked him with a sneer.
Then, with conviction, he declared.
"I have no intention of remaining a mere Dragon God."
"Do you plan to become some other god?"
"I will create a new world."
"..."
Bahamut fell silent for a moment.
The Primordial Dragons had birthed Sepiro to make him the absolute ruler of the Abyss.
To reach the pinnacle and look down upon all species.
But Sepiro had little interest in 'ruling'.
He had no intention of blindly following that fate.
Park Chan-woo's words went even further.
To create a new world...
To escape this Abyss.
A notion everyone had pondered at least once but could never voice.
"I will become the Creator God. I, Sepiro."
"...Do you believe that's possible?"
"It is possible. Only for me."
He spoke arrogantly.
In truth, it was something he'd improvised on the spot.
But it wasn't entirely a lie.
He had a faint inkling.
There were 'unknown' realms connected to the Abyss, worlds of 'mystery'.
"The Creator's Four Beasts exist one each in the Abyss, the Rifts, the Great Rifts, and the Creator's Domain."
What connected them all was the 'Creator's Four Beasts'.
Baal of the Abyss.
The Sanctuary of the Rifts.
And the remaining two.
They would surely be in the Great Rifts and the Creator's Domain.
This was not mere suspicion, but certainty.
That colossal outer god that had emerged from the Great Rift.
...He strongly suspected it was one of the 'Four Beasts'.
With three confirmed, the last one had to be in the 'Creator's Domain'.
"What do you plan to do once you've tamed all four beasts?"
"Have I not said? I will become the Creator God."
Baal was the source of wrath.
The Sanctuary governed order and balance.
The other two would have their roles as well.
And if he gathered all the beasts together...
"They will become the key to the Creator God."
Of course, the Four Beasts weren't everything.
There was one more thing.
'Easter Egg.'
The egg containing the Creator's will.
He had already collected four.
The messages within each Easter Egg were simple.
Luck, harmony, evolution, temperance.
What story had the Creator sought to convey through the Four Beasts and the Easter Eggs?
The ego within Sepiro's heart, which had regressed alongside him, yearned for 'beyond the Great Rift'.
It saw that place as the ideal paradise, the end of the world.
It believed all intentions, from the Creator onward, converged there.
The Abyss, the Rifts, the Great Rifts—they were mere stepping stones leading there.
But Park Chan-woo's thoughts differed.
He had reached one conclusion.
'The Creator wants all worlds to connect.'
The Creator desired for all worlds to become one.
An idealistic, unattainable dream.
Those were the sentiments encapsulated in the Easter Eggs.
Had he not marked the domains with the Four Beasts?
Had he not hidden them in various places, imbued with the necessary roles and wills?
He organized his thoughts.
And slowly spoke.
"Therefore, I command you: triumph in the Tribal War. The Black Witch knows the path to the 'Creator's Domain,' so overwhelm the witches and uncover its location."
He added one more thing.
"The clan with the most outstanding performance will be entrusted with the 'reconstruction of the Dragon God Temple.'"
"...!!!"
The moment he mentioned the Tribal War, the clans stirred.
It was right around the corner.
However, victory for the dragonkin in this Tribal War would be a tall order.
All other species would desperately try to sabotage them.
Even the demons.
Sepiro had touched the reverse scale of the great Nine Lords and the Demon Gods.
Thanks to Park Chan-woo, he might even be pinpointed as the culprit behind the Great Rifts.
Would the demons just sit idly by and watch the dragons win?
It would be a grueling battlefield for the dragonkin as well.
'A new order will be forged.'
'...The Dragon God Temple's reconstruction is a stepping stone for Lord Sepiro to become the Creator God!'
'For His favor, our clan must win!'
Ambition filled the dragons' eyes.
On the other hand, dismay flickered in the eyes of Diar, the leader of the Radiant Clan, and the heads of two other clans.
'The hierarchy among the clans could shift.'
'What nonsense is this...!'
They could lose the chance to serve Dragon God Sepiro in the Dragon God Temple.
The clan tasked with reconstruction would rise as the strongest.
An undeniable fact.
Bahamut too maintained his silence.
It was only natural.
Park Chan-woo's words satisfied everyone.
Bahamut, the clans, and even Sepiro.
Becoming a god who creates worlds meant ascending to the pinnacle of all realms, and destroying the Dragon God Temple to embrace a new fate—it was an intriguing, entertaining intent that could appeal greatly.
To both the current Sepiro and the future one.
Whether this choice would prove to be 'the move of a god' remained to be seen.
But he had to show such ambition.
At this moment, at least, the dragons saw him as 'Sepiro'.
Bahamut seemed to tacitly accept it for now.
'I've seized the momentum.'
There was one proof left.
If he elevated Signus to the king of the Rifts, the 'Sanctuary,' they would truly believe he was the original.
The problem was time.
He needed a reliable 'ally' within the dragonkin to buy him some.
The opportunity to resolve that was now, and now only.
Possible only while the momentum held.
"Furthermore."
Park Chan-woo didn't stop.
While the emotions of all the clans surged.
He called the name of a dragon absent from this gathering.
"I appoint Ataraxia as the leader of the Despair Clan."