Chapter 725: Eternal Spire (103)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 725: Eternal Spire (103)
"Seo-yun, I've reconnected with Lady Tiamat."
Reconnecting with Tiamat meant that the barrier had either been deactivated or they had escaped it.
I decided to postpone the meeting for now.
"Everyone, you're dismissed. Go tend to your business."
At my words, the other women nodded and left the room.
Seo Eun-ha paused for a moment at the door and looked back.
"Call me immediately if anything happens."
"I will. Don't worry."
Only Tia and I remained in the room.
I immediately questioned her.
"What did Tiamat say?"
"She says she's coming to the Tower now. Along with Lady Cheon-wol and Lady Athena."
"Athena?"
I furrowed my brows.
I was taken aback by the sudden mention of Athena's name.
The daughter of Zeus. Olympus's Goddess of Wisdom. Why was she moving with Tiamat and Cheon-wol?
"She said they escaped from the barrier."
Tia explained as she closed her eyes, continuing her conversation with Tiamat.
"All three of them have escaped the barrier, and they say they have something urgent to tell you... They're asking what floor we're on right now... What should I tell them?"
"Tell them. The 77th-floor Safe Zone."
"Understood."
Tia closed her eyes again to concentrate.
I could see her lips moving slightly as she conversed with Tiamat. Since the connection between a god and a priestess is handled through consciousness rather than speech, it looked like she was meditating from an outside perspective.
Soon, Tia opened her eyes.
"I've relayed the message. They'll be here soon."
"Let's go."
I stood up and opened the door.
We walked through the hallway toward the Safe Zone. Tia followed behind me.
'The two women who have helped me so far, and the sudden appearance of Athena.'
It felt like something was unfolding that I wasn't aware of.
Athena's appearance was particularly bothering me. Why was the daughter of Zeus moving with Tiamat? Had she betrayed Zeus?
'I'll have to meet her in person to find out.'
And so, I waited.
One minute.
Two minutes.
Time flowed slowly.
Then.
Space began to distort minutely.
'They're here.'
I sensed it instinctively.
And soon, three women appeared.
It wasn't teleportation. The expression 'appeared' was more accurate. It felt as if their forms were slowly manifesting out of thin air.
Tiamat, Cheon-wol, and Athena.
"Jin Seo-yun!"
As soon as Tiamat saw me, she smirked and came running toward me.
"Tiamat!"
Seeing her run toward me, I opened my arms to welcome her.
And as she jumped into my arms—
"I haven't forgotten what you've done to this lady all this time! Die!"
"Huh?"
In an instant, memories of how I had teased and tormented Tiamat flashed through my mind.
'Wait, was this a trap?!'
I saw Tiamat's tail whipping toward me with incredible speed.
It was a powerful strike. It looked like it would hurt quite a bit if it landed.
Reflexively, my hand shot out, and I struck her weak point with my fist.
—Thump!
"O-go-gok—♡"
Taking the Abdominal Strike head-on, Tiamat's face twisted into an ahegao expression as she climaxed instantly, collapsing to the floor and trembling.
"Ah, I did that without thinking...!"
"Y-you... you bastard... Jin Seo-yun... O-gok...♡"
Tiamat fell forward with a depraved look on her face and fainted.
She was completely melted, even drooling.
Cheon-wol sighed as if she found the whole thing absurd.
"No matter how I look at it, I think that perverted goddess got hit on purpose..."
"...W-what is this? That disgusting display..."
Athena stared at Tiamat with a look of pure shock.
The dignified Serpent Empress she once knew was nowhere to be found. In her place was only a perverted goddess twitching on the floor and letting out strange moans.
"Is... is that really Tiamat...?"
Athena asked, her expression one of disbelief.
"No comment."
Cheon-wol sighed and looked away.
I tried calling out to Tiamat.
"Tiamat, are you okay?"
"Nngh... Hehe... As expected, your Abdominal Strikes are the best...♡"
Tiamat muttered with an ecstatic expression.
"Good grief."
I grabbed her tail and lifted her up.
"Hee-it♡"
Tiamat hung there limply, completely drained of strength.
"Tia, take this pervert away and clean her up."
"...Yes."
Tia also seemed a bit put off that the goddess she served was such a pervert, as she dragged Tiamat away to the side with an awkward expression.
Remaining were me, Cheon-wol, and Athena.
"......"
Athena still looked like she hadn't recovered from the shock.
I scanned the two goddesses.
The goddess on the left wearing silk robes seemed to be Cheon-wol, and the one in armor appeared to be Athena.
Cheon-wol had an elegant and graceful aura. Her long blue hair flowed down, and her eyes were full of affection.
Athena was clad in golden armor. It was a design that was both practical and dignified. Her golden hair and sharp gaze were impressive.
'They're both beauties.'
As expected of goddesses, their looks were top-tier.
I greeted Cheon-wol first.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Cheon-wol."
"Oh my, would you mind just calling me Cheon-wol?"
Cheon-wol said with a soft smile.
"Both Tiamat and I already have a special relationship with you. There's no need for formalities."
"...A special relationship?"
"My, my~ Are you going to play dumb after everything you've received from me?"
Cheon-wol narrowed her eyes playfully.
"Of course not."
I chuckled.
Cheon-wol had been a great help to me since I first entered the Eternal Spire.
"Then I'll call you Cheon-wol."
"Yes, please do."
Cheon-wol smiled with satisfaction.
"By the way, seeing you in person, you're quite the beauty."
"Oh, thank you for the compliment."
Next, I turned to Athena.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Athena. I am the participant, Jin Seo-yun."
"I am Athena. The Goddess of Wisdom of Olympus."
Athena still looked flustered by Tiamat's antics from moments ago, but her tone and manner were certainly formal. Her atmosphere was distinctly different from Cheon-wol or Tiamat.
"First, let's discuss the details in a more comfortable place."
At my suggestion, both goddesses nodded.
"That would be best."
I guided them.
"Please, have a seat."
Cheon-wol and Athena sat down side by side.
Knock, knock—
A knock was heard at the door.
"Come in."
The door opened and Tia entered, followed by a staggering Tiamat.
"Ugh... While this lady briefly lost consciousness..."
Tiamat muttered, her face still flushed.
"Are you okay?"
"I am fine... No, rather, it was wonderful..."
"You perverted hag."
At those words, Tiamat's entire body shuddered.
'I knew she was a pervert, but I didn't think it was this bad.'
Memories of Tiamat's reactions whenever we did it through Tia's body flashed through my mind and vanished.
"Just sit down."
"...Okay."
Tiamat sat down weakly.
I got straight to the point.
"So, what brings you to descend directly into the Tower?"
At my question, Cheon-wol spoke first.
"First, I think we need to tell you about the barrier."
"The barrier?"
"Yes. Loki has imprisoned the gods. Most of them were trapped within the barrier."
I already knew this fact, so I nodded silently.
"However, Zeus was not trapped in the barrier."
Tiamat added calmly.
"Zeus?"
"Yes. Previously, the gods voted to exclude Zeus, but that turned out to be a blunder. He and his faction are moving freely, strengthening Loki's barrier, and even using that power as a weapon to threaten other gods."
This was a result of the flow being disrupted because of my intervention, unlike the original story.
'...Did things get twisted because of me?'
It was a relief to find out now, at least.
"How did you escape the barrier?"
"Thanks to Athena's help, we were able to find a gap in the barrier and escape."
Cheon-wol said quietly.
"And that's when we learned that Zeus is targeting you."
This time, Athena stepped forward.
"Zeus will try to get his hands on the Sealing Device. It's clear he intends to use it to dominate the System itself."
"I understand the situation for now."
I looked at Athena and asked.
"But Lady Athena, why did you betray Zeus?"
Athena didn't hesitate for a second.
"Because I believed it was not the right thing to do."
Indeed, remembering how Athena had lent her strength to Yoon Jae-ho in the original story, she was a trustworthy person.
Then, Tiamat spoke to me.
"By the way, when on earth did you first contact the System and even give it a name?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"It just happened."
Tiamat sighed and said.
"Ha, you really... are a constant troublemaker. Because you gave the System a name, all of our divine authorities were eventually stripped away."
"Your authorities were stripped away?"
"Yes. Fortunately, the System didn't treat us as enemies and helped us, which is how we were able to come here."
Hearing Cheon-wol's words, I could tell that Luna was also aware of this situation to some extent.
'The fact that she didn't tell me directly means she hasn't completely broken free from the rules yet.'
Just then, a message from Luna appeared.
[I'm sorry I couldn't tell you.]
"It's okay."
When I muttered to myself, the three goddesses looked at me with puzzled expressions for a moment. However, they soon seemed to realize I was talking to Luna and nodded without saying anything.
After that, I heard more detailed stories regarding Zeus from the three goddesses.
"Puppets?"
"Yes. Fake participants. They are dolls created by Zeus."
Athena explained.
"Their appearance is perfect, so they are completely indistinguishable from normal participants. However, they have no ego and only move according to commands."
"And how many of those dolls... did you say there were?"
"There are likely at least 50 of them."
I stroked my chin, lost in thought. The number was much higher than I had anticipated.
'More than the number I had identified.'
Since this was content that appeared in the original story, I knew about it, but the actual number was much larger.
In the original, they weren't much of a threat, so I had just left them alone.
'I left them alone so I could screw Zeus over the moment he tried something... but I guess I should deal with them now.'
I immediately asked Luna.
"Luna, is there any way to deal with the fake participants?"
[It's impossible. On the System logs, they are processed as normal participants, so I can't interfere with them arbitrarily.]
After organizing my thoughts for a moment, I spoke again.
"First, could you tell me the specific characteristics of those things called Puppets in detail?"
Athena nodded.
Athena
