Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Chapter 166
"St-stop it!"
"Aaahh!"
As Romulus's spear flashed, the chieftains screamed in terror.
However, despite their screams, what Romulus's spear cut wasn't their necks.
Thunk-.
What was severed by the spear tip was only their beards and hair.
Romulus gathered their body hair containing genetic information and handed it to Seo-jin.
"Here you are, Savior."
"Good."
Seo-jin received the body hair Romulus handed him and sprinkled it on the pile of earth at his feet.
Their genetic information melted into the Magical Clay. Then, Seo-jin held the totem in his hand and asked the chieftains:
"Don't you find it suspicious? This thing called a revival ritual."
Next, Seo-jin counted each chieftain's tribe and called forth the appropriate souls from the totem. The revival ritual was proceeding once again.
But this time toward the living, not the dead.
Performing a revival ritual on the living was the most forbidden of all taboos.
"St-stop it immediately!"
"What do you think you're doing!"
The chieftains rushed at Seo-jin as if having a seizure, but they were soon subdued by Romulus and his forces, left to struggle helplessly.
Seo-jin continued speaking as he carried on with the revival ritual:
"You who are moving and alive right now. You're the same. Have you never once thought about it? What can prove that you, revived from death, are truly you?"
"Wh-what is that..."
"What are you talking about? Even if I was revived, I am still wholly myself!"
The chieftains answered confidently, but Seo-jin only shook his head.
"I wonder."
Thunk-.
Seo-jin kicked the Magical Clay at his feet with his toe.
"Your bodies are made of earth, and this 'soul' stored in the totem is suspicious beyond measure. The only thing proving you are you is memory. But even that isn't continuous. You who met death and you who awakened again. There's nothing anywhere that proves those two are identical."
In the past, when Rosaria offered to create a new body for him, Seo-jin had refused that proposal.
The reason he refused that offer wasn't very different from the sinister nature this revival ritual harbored.
The answer lies right here.
Ssssss-.
The revival ritual continued by Seo-jin's hand.
Before the living chieftains, the Magical Clay began writhing on its own and forming shapes.
The Magical Clay dolls that obtained the chieftains' genetic information naturally resembled the chieftains. And then.
Flash-.
Light soon dwelled in the dolls' eyes, and they slowly rose from their positions one by one.
"Th-this is..."
"Wh-what are you doing! To arbitrarily perform a revival ritual on the living!"
"Shut up and just watch."
The chieftains 'revived' by Seo-jin's ritual.
Those who had just opened their eyes were thrown into confusion seeing chieftains who looked exactly like themselves thrashing about wildly before their eyes.
"...Huh?"
"That's... me?"
Shocked at facing another version of themselves.
Seo-jin looked at them and spoke:
"If souls are truly stored in the totem and the revival ritual calls them forth, how could two identical beings gather in one place?"
"..."
"Therefore, this isn't revival or anything like it."
Seo-jin looked at the gathered totems and closed his eyes.
'It was strange from the beginning.'
No matter how much this underground world is a kind of closed realm, the mystery of defying heaven like revival is nearly impossible.
This would be difficult even for Circe or Rosaria, practitioners of black magic, let alone native shamans.
"Rather, this is replication."
Not the circulation of souls, but a curse that merely replicates genetic information and memories to make them move.
The lightning that struck down at them from the sky wasn't anger or warning about the power of defying heaven.
It was only compassion and mercy, meant to break the meaningless vicious cycle of replicated clay dolls that only continued killing each other.
Seo-jin cut off the mana he was infusing into the totem and ended the revival ritual.
Crumble-.
The chieftains' bodies that had just been created collapsed back into piles of earth.
"This is the reality of what you've believed to be revival all this time. Do you think it's right to continue endless war while depending on this meaningless illusion?"
"..."
The chieftains who had interfered with everything Seo-jin did until now looked at the collapsed piles of earth, speechless.
And from then on, not one of them could object to what Seo-jin was doing.
Even after confirming this cruel truth, they couldn't continue being stubborn.
"Good, then let's begin the ritual."
***
After persuading the chieftains and other opposing natives, Seo-jin headed to the Central Corridor.
And with the strategy team's help, he gathered all the tribes together and held a ritual to fuse the totems.
"This is..."
Finally, a single totem floated in the air.
That totem emitting pure white light was the key to the surface, created by combining the totems of sixteen tribes.
Having successfully created The Primordial Totem, Seo-jin placed it in Romulus's hands.
"Now, you've done this before, right?"
"Yes."
He nodded resolutely and walked toward the passage leading to the surface.
Representatives from each tribe followed behind Romulus.
These were pure bloodlines who had never undergone a revival ritual, specially selected from among them.
Step by step-.
Romulus confidently walked out through the passage to the surface, leading them.
The powerful barriers melted away like snow just from holding the totem.
Rumble-.
Having passed through the barriers their ancestors created, Romulus skillfully rolled stones to open the door to the surface.
And together with those of pure bloodline like their ancestors, he stepped under the warm sunlight.
***
"So this is how it ends."
Ju Won-jae crossed his arms and watched the natives emerge onto the surface one by one.
Those who looked at the brilliant sunlight in surprise and rejoiced at the gentle wind embracing their skin.
Seeing their reactions, happy as puppies meeting snow for the first time, didn't feel entirely bad.
He had thought of them only as demons who pointed blades at each other.
Ha-yeon, standing beside Won-jae who had momentarily fallen into sentiment, tilted her head slightly and asked:
"How is it? Isn't this kind of thing good sometimes?"
"..."
Won-jae, who had been silently lost in thought, spoke calmly.
"Yes, perhaps this might be a better ending."
That was true.
If they had proceeded with the test according to Nimrod's conditions, the result would have been clear.
An ending where they simply fought and defeated the enemy, routed half the natives, and took and destroyed all totems except one.
If it had developed that way, there wouldn't have been such a happy ending.
What would remain would only be wounds, death, and half sacrificed.
None of the fundamental problems would be solved, and only another yoke of evil called domination and exploitation would continue.
From that perspective, this ending before their eyes now was nothing short of a miracle.
This must be the tower climbing method Nova pursues.
However,
"That's limited to this one floor. We can't say this will necessarily lead to a good ending for humanity."
Though the result was good, this was merely the result.
The process by which Nova solved this test wasn't efficient no matter how you looked at it.
Of course, it wasn't something he should say having competed head-on and been defeated, but this was about methodology, separate from results.
'Unless he becomes a god, this complex and lukewarm method of resolution will eventually hit its limits.'
Clearly, he developed this test from the same position as himself.
But he handled everything in that short time.
He gained the residents' cooperation, appropriately deployed his members to face the strategy team, and finally obtained the totems.
Moreover, in the midst of that, he discovered the secret of the totems and how to combine them, and even learned the truth about the revival ritual and how to solve it.
This was a miracle impossible to understand.
No matter how you think about it, it's not something that could be done in such a short time.
It wouldn't just be this test either.
While climbing the tower until now, to bring conclusions that would be acceptable to the natives living on each floor, he must have repeatedly performed such unbelievable feats.
All while cultivating power comparable to his own and forming a team rivaling the strategy team.
All while being checked rather than supported by corporations or nations.
This is close to an impossible feat. Even if Nova possesses genius abilities.
And yet, he'll continue doing this from now on?
Won-jae slowly shook his head.
'That's impossible.'
Unless he's a god who knows the future, he can't sustain such actions on every floor.
Separate from praise for his feats, this isn't a sustainable strategy method.
That arrogance of trying to do everything perfectly will be what brings Nova down.
And he's actually crumbling on his own.
You can tell just by looking.
He's being driven to the limit both physically and mentally.
Though he appears strong on the outside, he's in a precarious state where it wouldn't be strange if he collapsed at any moment.
Won-jae asked Ha-yeon:
"Is that why you helped that bastard?"
"I don't know what you mean?"
The Saintess stuck out her tongue and shamelessly feigned ignorance.
Won-jae looked at Ha-yeon, who had put an iron plate on her face, then turned his gaze away.
"...Never mind. I'll let this one slide. But from now on, don't cooperate with him."
He turned his body around and left somewhere.
***
Night had grown dark.
Originally, this was a world with no distinction between day and night, but now that the surface was opened, it was different.
The new base camp formed near the tunnel leading to the surface.
Romulus came to Seo-jin's tent and gave his report.
"That concludes my report, Savior."
"Good."
Seo-jin listened to Romulus's report and nodded.
According to the confirmation, among the natives, pure bloodlines who hadn't undergone revival rituals were only 30 percent.
The rest were those whose ancestors or parents went through revival, becoming hostages of the earth's spirits.
If they rashly went outside, they'd meet divine punishment and return to a handful of earth.
This included Remus as well.
'Is even this a lot?'
It's remarkable that 30 percent of pure bloodlines remained through hundreds of years of continuous war.
If resources and mana had been abundant enough not to constrain revival rituals, there would have been very few pure bloodlines left who could live on the surface.
That this many remained was, paradoxically, thanks to this underground world's insufficient resources and miserable living conditions.
"We plan to persuade all of them to ascend to the surface within three days. The advance party has already brought and shown them fruits and animals from the surface, so they'll be convinced quickly."
For those who lived digging and eating earth underground, showing them luscious surface fruits and living, moving animals would make them all clamor to go up.
Persuasion is only a matter of time.
"Good."
Seo-jin headed to the connecting passage between surface and underground with Romulus.
"Welcome."
Remus was waiting for them at the entrance.
Those who could ascend to the surface were only 30 percent. The remaining 70 percent had to continue living underground.
Now that the revival ritual had disappeared, they only needed to spend their remaining years quietly.
However.
"Those who remain have their role for those who remain."
Now that the barrier blocking surface and underground had disappeared, the natives of surface and underground could interact and travel back and forth anytime.
Those who went to the surface could pick fruit and farm, sharing the surface's blessings with those who remained below.
Those who remained underground could also mine Spirit Stones and ores to exchange for surface products.
Seo-jin put his arms around the brothers' shoulders and spoke:
"You two have a heavy responsibility."