Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Zero's Domain
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1.
The lowest level any being in the Abyss could possibly have.
Levels below that could never exist.
As long as it was a living being—or even if it wasn't—its level could never drop below '1'.
But.
What if, by some impossible chance, it did fall below that?
What phenomenon would occur?
—The Realm of Zero.
Countless alchemists and mages who pursued truth wondered about it.
Did a world below level 0 truly exist?
After endless research, they named it the 'Realm of Zero' and deemed it an unreachable otherworld, eventually abandoning any further attempts to uncover it.
—It lies beyond truth. A taboo that must never be touched.
That was why the truth seekers gave up their studies.
The 'truth' they believed in and followed encompassed all phenomena as the universe's myriad things cycled through their courses.
Dark magic defied truth, and certain impure studies twisted phenomena by exploiting it.
But this was on a different level entirely.
The Realm of Zero existed wholly outside truth.
Excluded from truth altogether.
A world of true 'incomprehensibility'.
—Once ensnared by the Realm of Zero, a being ceases to exist as a being.
To 'exist' meant to have substance.
To be present in the now and live out one's life, as the word implied.
Even death was a form of existence within life, thus still within truth.
Yet the 'Realm of Zero' was void in and of itself.
A realm of nothingness, neither death nor life.
Of course, this was mere hypothesis.
No one had ever confirmed it.
They could only speculate that such a place might exist.
And yet, right now.
The gatekeeper had set foot in that realm for the first time.
This should never have been possible.
...But it had become possible thanks to an impossible existence: Park Chan-woo.
A man who returned from the future to the past.
A being of mystery, fallen from level 99 to -99.
A contradictory man who cloaked himself in all things incomprehensible, placing him outside truth even as he adhered to it.
"Who am I?"
Within the Realm of Zero, the gatekeeper finally spoke.
He knew who he was.
He knew he was the gatekeeper of Khan's palace, and even the name Khan had bestowed upon him.
Yet he didn't know.
His true 'self'.
Would he learn if he descended further?
The gatekeeper pierced the zero barrier and plunged even lower.
-1 level.
The negative world.
A chill wind howled.
Darkness filled the space, but as he looked around, something was watching him.
'Eyes?'
It was countless 'eyes'.
Innumerable eyes staring right at the gatekeeper.
He instantly recognized their nature.
The 'forgotten ones'.
"Who... are you?"
No answer came.
Of course not.
They had forgotten themselves too.
But one thing was clear.
They too had crossed beyond the Realm of Zero.
Beings that might have existed even before the Abyss was born... ancient lifeforms from time immemorial.
Existences that had touched the taboo to escape truth.
Tremble tremble tremble!
The gatekeeper shuddered.
This was no place for him.
He had never touched the taboo to begin with.
He wasn't in the same boat as them.
Yet... he kept falling.
The gatekeeper sank endlessly.
No idea how far it would go.
He wanted out.
He wanted to flee.
He didn't want to spend even a single second here.
If only something would free him from this realm.
Anyone, anything.
'I'll even offer my soul—just please!'
Warrior of Valhalla.
The sole gatekeeper at the entrance to Khan's palace.
For the first time, he admitted his utter and complete defeat.
After his level plummeted endlessly, the gatekeeper collapsed.
He lost consciousness and kept trembling.
But the 'Emissary of the Blood Oath' did not stop.
"......"
Lee Hyuk-soo watched the gatekeeper silently.
Something was off, no matter how he thought about it.
This was the second time.
The second time the Emissary of the Blood Oath had been summoned to fell a mighty foe.
Game Master Andariel and the gatekeeper had both made 'blood oaths' against the Prophet with full sincerity, and both had met horrific ends.
Why?
They had both been utterly confident of victory when they made the oaths, so why did it always end in the Prophet's favor?
'One who forges their own path, unbound by fate.'
Lee Hyuk-soo pondered again.
The Prophet forged paths, so no one walking a predestined road could hope to match him.
But... something felt off.
It didn't seem like that was the whole story.
Andariel and the gatekeeper.
What did they have in common?
'...Levels.'
Yes. Levels.
Both had issues related to levels.
Andariel's trial was to 'victory against a foe whose level rises by 1 each time.'
Others had failed after a few wins against foes that grew stronger bit by bit, but Lee Hyuk-soo, alongside the Prophet, had fought over a hundred battles.
During that time, the foes hadn't grown stronger.
For some reason, they only started gaining strength after roughly a hundred fights.
The same here.
Lee Hyuk-soo recalled the gatekeeper's words.
—'I swear on my heart in the Abyss. In our battle, I shall fight at a level 10 below your average. And if I lose, I will serve you within this palace.'
The gatekeeper had been clear.
He would fight at a level 10 below their average.
The average was (his level + Prophet's level) / 2.
'My level is 21, so even if the Prophet's is 1, the average should be at least 11.'
Subtract 10, and it's still level 1.
Level 1 was a viable level for existence.
Yet the gatekeeper's state was utterly bizarre.
The Emissary of the Blood Oath kept shifting power from the gatekeeper onto the scales, endlessly.
It could be that his sudden level drop caused him to pass out... but the emissary not stopping suggested more.
And with Andariel's case overlapping, suspicion grew stronger.
Suspicion soon turned to conviction.
The Prophet.
His level was coming into focus.
Perhaps...
'...Is the problem that the Prophet's level is too high?'
Too high to ignore the established framework and standards.
So high that no one could properly gauge him!
After all, negative levels shouldn't exist.
It was a clear misunderstanding, but Lee Hyuk-soo thought:
'Now I get it. The Prophet's level far exceeds 100. Naturally, all these phenomena are errors or bugs from everyone being unable to perceive it.'
An existence too immense to challenge.
That was the Prophet, he was certain.
Because his level was beyond recognition, everything glitched out.
Of course, it was odd that such a colossal being would bother summoning the 'Emissary of the Blood Oath' to fight, but inversely, perhaps he held back his power precisely because he was so immense.
Lee Hyuk-soo glanced cautiously at Park Chan-woo.
Park Chan-woo was stroking his chin, eyes on the gatekeeper.
'...Did he drop to negative levels?'
He was half-doubting.
Even with his own current level at -89, he'd never seen anyone else go negative.
He was intensely curious what would happen if another being reached 'negative level' status.
'Beyond the Realm of Zero. A void world that shouldn't exist.'
Park Chan-woo knew the hypothesis too.
From mages and alchemists of ancient civilizations and races long gone.
One of many tales they told.
What lay beyond the Realm of Zero.
Some called it the primordial world, others said it was nothing at all.
Some claimed it was a time-frozen realm before the Abyss's birth, while others spouted it was somewhere in the present, past, or future.
He'd dismissed it as nonsense since it couldn't be verified.
'But since I'm experiencing it myself, I can't write it off entirely... though even I don't know why this is happening.'
Park Chan-woo still wasn't sure what negative levels truly meant.
Aftereffects of returning to the past? Selling his future? Or some other force?
He didn't know.
One thing was certain: it was some kind of phenomenon.
Thus, he was deeply curious what would happen if another being hit negative levels.
Swooooo...
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, the 'Emissary of the Blood Oath' stopped.
It absorbed no more levels from the gatekeeper.
Finally, the message that average level had been reached.
The gatekeeper's state was pitiful.
His breathing had stopped, his heart barely beating.
His pallid face grew ever paler, inching toward death.
And then.
As the defeat declaration appeared.
All the levels gathered on the emissary's scales were reclaimed.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaagh!"
...The gatekeeper screamed at the top of his lungs and shot to his feet.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
He scanned his surroundings frantically, then realized he was inside the palace and let out a deep sigh of relief.
But that relief was short-lived.
His gaze locked onto Park Chan-woo.
Tremble tremble tremble!
His body shook like a leaf.
His eyes were filled with terror.
Not a trace of his former confidence remained.
"Ah... Uh...!"
The gatekeeper barely opened his mouth, but no proper words came out.
What he'd seen beyond the Realm of Zero was too grotesque.
He'd realized the culprit behind it all was this human challenger, Park Chan-woo.
Slumped on the ground, he flailed his hands against the floor and scrambled backward.
Like a frail beast facing its natural predator.
"What did you see?"
Park Chan-woo asked.
He approached slowly.
Standing before the cowering gatekeeper, he stared straight into his eyes and spoke.
The gatekeeper clamped both hands over his mouth.
"Refusing to say?"
Shake shake!
The gatekeeper shook his head.
...Not refusing.
"You can't say?"
The gatekeeper nodded at Park Chan-woo's question.
He couldn't say.
What he'd seen.
The things he'd encountered as he kept descending.
The gatekeeper had plummeted to -44.
There were far more and greater horrors below, but even reaching there was enough to know.
Beyond the Realm of Zero, negative levels.
What dwelled there.
'Gods...!'
......Beings whose names he dared not utter.
Godlike.
Or gods themselves.