Chapter 669: The 9th Floor of the Tower of Babel
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 669: The 9th Floor of the Tower of Babel
The ascent to the 9th floor was unusually slow. People in the back grumbled as those in front refused to move, but once they reached the 9th floor themselves, they too stopped in their tracks, blocking the way.
“Hey, let us through. Move it.”
I forced my way through the crowd to the 9th floor. The moment I stepped onto it, I, too, froze just like everyone else.
A gentle breeze was blowing. Across a vast field, green grass swayed softly.
Soil and grass? Things you rarely see in the tower. But it wasn't impossible. An eccentric with peculiar tastes might decide to lay down soil and plant grass in the tower.
However, the light shining down from that dizzying height was undeniably out of place.
“The sun?”
On a ceiling so high it could be mistaken for the sky, a lamp as bright as the sun was casting its light.
I couldn't believe my eyes. No matter how high a ceiling, it couldn't reach the sky, and no matter how bright a lamp, it couldn't outshine the sun. But the 9th floor of the Tower of Babel had made it a reality. The ceiling was as high as the sky, and the light was as bright as the sun. It felt just like standing in a meadow at high noon.
But I couldn't shake the instinctive feeling of wrongness. I turned to Shei, the most instinct-driven person here.
“Shei. We're not outside, are we?”
“Yeah. We're still inside the Tower of Babel.”
“I know this tower has spatial anomalies, but to think a space this vast was hidden inside… that it could even be created. And that sun is as bright as the real one.”
“It's an artificial sun.”
Lankart, who had followed me, muttered as he gazed up at the sky.
“There's no doubt. That's the light of an artificial sun, one that emits only refined heat and brightness.”
“An artificial sun? Like the one at the center of the Floating Castle?”
“Yes. The Floating Castle travels along its celestial path at an immense altitude, so it can't receive sunlight. Unfiltered light from the sky is as good as poison. That's why the Mage King created an artificial sun at its center to illuminate the interior.”
I'd seen it myself. The massive sphere of light in the middle of the Floating Castle was as bright as a real sun. The reason it didn't fall from the castle's center was because the Tower of Babel, which pierced through the castle, supported it from both sides.
Having climbed the Tower of Babel, we now stood with that artificial sun directly above our heads.
This is the 9th floor. The artificial sun is overhead. This could only mean one thing. I stepped forward, faced the crowd, and spoke.
“Alright, everyone. I've found the 9th floor's puzzle.”
The mages, who had been looking around for the puzzle, asked in surprise.
“Already?”
“What is it?”
“You all know the structure of Babel. The Mage King's magic tower serves as the axis for the Floating Castle, supporting the artificial sun.”
The Tower of Babel pierces vertically through the Floating Castle. At the very center, where the towers growing from above and below meet, the artificial sun illuminates the castle. The Tower of Babel is essentially a fixed axis that keeps the artificial sun from falling or drifting away.
In other words, the artificial sun is located at the very top of the Tower of Babel.
“And yet, here we are, with the artificial sun shining down on us. What do you suppose that means?”
“It means we're at the top of the Tower of Babel.”
“The tower didn't look this wide from the Floating Castle.”
“A spatial anomaly. It's astonishing that it's on this scale. The Tower of Babel might as well be a giant Rene's Pocket.”
The mages from the Floating Castle nodded and discussed among themselves. However, the mages who had come up from the Lower World couldn't understand their conversation.
“What the hell? How do they know the structure of the Floating Castle? This is supposed to be the gateway, a test of our worthiness to ascend!”
“Are those mages from the Floating Castle?”
“Is this some kind of 'kicking away the ladder' bullshit? Why are mages from the Floating Castle in the gateway trial?”
The mages slowly split into two factions. The ones from the Floating Castle were superior in quality, but the ones from the Lower World were far greater in number. The lower-world mages glared at the Floating Castle mages with jealousy and hostility.
So another group has fractured. And here I thought we'd need all the help we could get. I scanned the mages and continued.
“Strictly speaking, this isn't the top of the tower. We still have one more floor above us.”
“One more floor…? Hughes, there's nothing above us but the artificial sun.”
“Exactly, Avant-garde!”
I clapped my hands loudly for Avant-garde, who had given the right answer. Her face turned red as all eyes fell on her.
“It means the top of Babel, the 10th floor, is inside that artificial sun. So, this floor's puzzle is to find a way inside it.”
It would be absurd if it were a real sun, but it's possible with an artificial one. It's a magical artifact. Inside, there must be countless magic circles, churning with immense mana to produce light and heat.
A place worth exploring. One of the mages from the Floating Castle stepped forward boldly.
“We can use gravity magic.”
“Gravity magic?”
“Yes. Mages from the Floating Castle can use gravity reversal magic. Using it here would make reaching the artificial sun a simple matter. Though the calculations would have to be precise…”
Just as he was slowly explaining and beginning to gather his mana, a flash of magical light erupted from the crowd, and a mage shot upwards. Having completed the spell a step ahead of everyone else, she laughed loudly and shouted.
“Hahaha! You slugs! The legacy of Rene will be mine!”
“Icarus! That bastard!”
While we were talking, she had secretly torn a scroll and infused it with mana to complete the gravity reversal spell.
Mages were always quick on the uptake. The mage called Icarus cackled madly, mocking the one who had been a step too slow.
“Still don't get it? The gateway always closes after one person passes through! The first to claim the prize takes all the glory!”
“You think we didn't go because we didn't know…!”
“After her!”
“Hughes! What are you doing? Stop her!”
“Why are you telling me to do it? She's the one who acted rashly.”
As I muttered in disbelief, Icarus's figure continued to ascend even faster. Gravity reversal magic was on a different level from flight magic. Seeing Icarus now closer to the sun, a few other mages also shot up using anti-gravity magic.
But by its very nature, gravity reversal magic made it impossible to catch up to someone who had started first. Icarus's speed was now approaching that of a lightning bolt. Slicing through the air, she reached her hand out toward the artificial sun.
“I will obtain Rene's legacy and ascend to an even greater height…”
Faster and faster, hotter and hotter, brighter and brighter. Icarus's body was drenched in light. The seeping light shattered her shadow into tiny pieces.
It wasn't an illusion or anything of the sort; it was exactly as it appeared. Before Icarus could even realize something was wrong, she let out a cry.
“Ah…! The light!”
Her cry never reached us. At a distance where even my mind-reading grew faint, a human body disintegrated with a soft crackle.
Death? No, it was closer to annihilation. She left behind no corpse, no remains, simply sucked into the artificial sun.
The cunning mage who had tried to cut in line was engulfed in light and vanished.
The mages who witnessed Icarus's death were horrified and tried to cancel their gravity reversal spells. But it didn't go as planned.
“W-wait! A gravitational anomaly! It's disrupting the spell formula!”
“Cancel the gravity magic and use another spell to descend…!”
Of the five mages who had flown up, two with quick judgment and superior magical skill managed to return safely. One died just like Icarus, and the other two were flung in the wrong direction, crashing far away. One died from a broken neck, and the other was fated for the same, but…
“Tch, idiots! What do you think you're doing?!”
Shei created a gust of wind to save him, so he escaped with only minor injuries.
The situation calmed down as quickly as it had begun. However, the unrest among the people only grew.
It wasn't because someone had died. If anything, it was the opposite. It was a regrettable tragedy, but the crowd's reaction was beyond cold; it was cruel.
“Serves her right for cutting in line. She should've just died!”
“It's not even about cutting in line. A mage like that participating in the gateway trial is cheating in the first place!”
The mercenaries sneered at the dead mage, and the paladins clicked their tongues, though they offered a small prayer. And the mages, who should have been her closest kin, hurled insults.
One of the mages from the Floating Castle who had returned confronted them.
“One of our chosen has died, and that's what you have to say?”
The mages from the Floating Castle were older and more skilled, stern and serious. They gently rebuked the lower-world mages, but the hot-blooded mages only pushed back harder.
“What we have to say? That's rich. Who's the one who got to coast by using gravity magic only taught in the Floating Castle?”
“This is one of the few chances we get! And you're the ones trying to steal it from us!”
“I've studied my whole life for a chance to get to the Floating Castle!”
Sharp voices flew back and forth. The two groups grew so aggressive it seemed they would clash at any moment. As shouts were exchanged, some secretly began preparing deadly spells.
As infighting broke out among the mages, the two remaining groups slowly turned to face each other.
The Mercenaries.
And the Paladins.
The two were fated to fight eventually. But they couldn't rashly draw their weapons, wary of the mages, who were the largest group. If they struck first and the mages, fearing the violence, united against them, they wouldn't escape unscathed.
But now, with the mages split into two factions and fighting amongst themselves, they could no longer act as a deterrent to the mercenaries and paladins.
“Your Eminence.”
“Yes.”
A subtle current passed through the Paladins, and the priests slowly retreated. As the Paladins naturally fell into formation, the mercenaries glanced at Kuram. They too were poised to move the instant the order was given.
Just then, Kuram called out to Dokjine.
“Dokjine.”
“…Heh?”
“For a moment.”
Having called her over, Kuram grabbed her head and kissed her. Dokjine's eyes widened. They continued to kiss passionately, and wet, slurping sounds could be heard.
Shei jumped in surprise and shouted.
“Wh-wh-what? What are they doing?”
“It seems they had a sudden urge to exchange saliva.”
“What are you talking about! That can't be it!”
“Sometimes you just get those urges in life.”
“…That… can't be… but maybe…?”
I don't know either. That's not what's important right now.
Dokjine's eyes gradually narrowed. She smiled, her eyes forming crescents as if she were utterly satisfied and happy. The sight was both dangerously alluring and precarious.
Slowly, Kuram broke the kiss and muttered.
“There. I've delivered your happiness.”
A long strand of saliva connected them as if reluctant to part. But only for a moment. Dokjine caught the strand and licked it up greedily. Sucking down every last drop, she let out a moan with a loosened tongue.
“So haaaappy—”
Kuram's bodily fluids were poison. His saliva, in particular, was the sweetest drug. For the years she was imprisoned in Tantalus, Kuram had supplied her with it. Dokjine was now steeped in Kuram's drug, and Kuram himself had altered his body to produce a narcotic perfectly suited for her.
And Dokjine could only use Li when she was on the drug. That was her demonic art.
“Dokjine. Let's kill them.”
“Eheheheung!”
High on the drug, Dokjine could no longer see friend or foe. Music played in her ears, and the dizzying scent of flowers brushed past her nose. Her body felt light enough to fly, as if she could run for a hundred days without tiring. Lost in euphoria, Dokjine spotted an enchanting butterfly fluttering by and began to chase it.
“A butterfly… Little butterfly, where are you going?”
As if possessed, Dokjine swung her tachi, slicing the butterfly in two. Shink. Leather tore and flesh was gouged. The white butterfly was instantly stained red and, as if by magic, multiplied into hundreds that flew into the air.
“Kyahaha! Butterflies! There are so many butterflies now!”
Behind her, as she laughed like a child and chased the butterflies, a paladin fell to his knees. Blood gushed from his half-severed neck.
A paladin with Combat Foresight had died so easily, so pointlessly. The paladin standing next to him stared in horror at his comrade's corpse.
“Torius! Sky God, what is this…”
“What in the world are those butterflies…?”
“Why didn't Combat Foresight activate?”
The power of the paladins, Combat Foresight. The ability to read an opponent's attack half a move ahead made them into iron walls. The eye of the Sky God, watching over them in every situation, had always protected their bodies and their faith.
But the paladins had not only failed to follow Dokjine's movements with their eyes, they hadn't been able to read them with Combat Foresight either. Her Axiom had rendered even Combat Foresight useless.
Kuram unwrapped the bandages binding his body and muttered.
“Of course. Dokjine wasn't trying to cut you.”
Dokjine's Li: Hallucinatory Somnambulism.
When she gets high and falls into a hallucination, that hallucination becomes reality. Unrealistic and unpredictable movements, superhuman strength, and the confidence that she can do anything. All of it manifests in the real world.
Dokjine only cut a butterfly in her hallucination. No matter how stern the Sky God may be, he could not have foreseen the axiom within Dokjine's hallucination. By what principle could anyone predict the visions of a drug addict?
And it wasn't just the euphoria from the drug that manifested in reality.
Reality, swept up by Dokjine, was eroded by her hallucination. The paladin's blood transformed into hundreds of red butterflies, and the wind that pushed at her back now blew in the real world. The dizzying floral scent Dokjine had smelled now filled everyone's noses. The sensation of their senses mixing caused a few with weak stomachs to collapse and vomit.
She is a master who has reached the Axiom. Even if it's only when she's on drugs, her power is real.
Even their full strength would not be enough. The remaining paladins gripped their cross-shaped swords and cried out.
“God, grant us strength!”
“Today, this pitiful lamb shall depart to be by Your side!”
Realizing that Combat Foresight would not work, the paladins charged toward Dokjine, prepared to die.