The Five-Thousandth Year
Sizzle. The smell of roasting meat tickled the bridge of my nose. I had expertly grilled the roe deer I’d scavenged from the fourth floor on a flat stone. No matter how much I’d eaten over the eons, meat was still meat. There was simply no way it could be anything but good. For the first time in a while, my appetite was piqued.
“Sniff, sniff.” It seemed I wasn’t the only one. Chronos was crouched beside me, inhaling the air so hard she looked like she was trying to catch the very smoke rising from the meat.
“Can’t I eat it yet?”
“Wait. I’ll give you some when it’s done.”
“Not yet?”
“Hey.” She didn’t listen and reached out, so I gave her hand a sharp slap. She went back to quietly watching the meat cook.
“Here.”
“Nom, nom.” I’d tossed her a piece, but it was too big for her to eat easily. Chronos had a small mouth.
“Cut it for me.”
“Too much work. Just eat it.”
“Hurry. You said we’d eat together.”
“That was Wilson… fine.” It was too much of a hassle to keep arguing, so I used a stone knife to cut it into smaller pieces. Fighting with someone who wielded mana was my own loss, after all. Stone was universal. As I sliced the meat, her braided hair swayed back and forth in sync with her eyes.
‘They say there’s no god who hates meat.’ Tana’s words were true. I was the one who caught the deer, grilled it, and even cut it for her. It was annoying to just hand it over, so I flicked it at her.
Thwack. She jumped like a dog and caught it perfectly.
“Chomp, chomp.” With Chronos’s antics as a side dish, I finished my first protein boost in a long time.
“Let’s wash up now.”
“We washed yesterday, why do it again?”
“The grease is sticky. You too, Sisyphus.”
“You’re such a pain.” I hadn’t memorized the secret path to the lake yet, so I needed her. As soon as we reached the water, *splash*. Just like the first time we came here, Chronos dove right in.
“Come in, Sisyphus. It’s refreshing.”
“Another bath? You’re awfully clean.”
“Isn’t this what washing is?”
“I’m just going to wash my face. Don’t try to drag me in again. It’s a pain because my clothes take forever to dry.”
Chronos tilted her head as if mulling over my words, then said, “So you have to take your clothes off to bathe.” She started undoing the fastening straps of her chiton. She was a god, all right. No common sense. I ignored her and decided to just wash my face at the water’s edge.
Just then, *ripple, ripple*. Chronos approached me, creating soft waves in the water.
“Sisyphus, will you wash me?”
“Do you not have hands or feet?”
“You washed me before.”
“That was Wilson.”
“Do it again.”
Some might think that because of the statues from the Greek era, the perception of nudity in this age was relatively loose. In my life, at least, that was absolutely not the case. Whether man or woman, anyone walking around exposing their private parts was a lunatic. The fact that statues realistically depicted bulging cocks or feminine breasts was mostly because people with darker desires than others chose the profession of an artist. Whether writing, painting, or sculpting figures, it was the same. Future generations might look at modern commercial manga and judge, ‘Ah, the 21st century was an era where NTR was common.’ If anything, I felt the sexual morality of Greece was quite conservative. Confucianism had nothing on them. They even had a god who was the symbol of purity and virginity. In other words, to me, Chronos’s current behavior looked like nothing more than an overt expression of ‘I am a god.’ It meant that since she was a god and I was a human, she felt no shame in exposing her naked body. We don’t feel ashamed to be naked in front of an ant, after all.
“No.”
“Why….”
“Too much work. Look at the length of my beard. It takes all day just to wash this.”
Even without looking directly, I felt Chronos’s shoulders slump slightly. Was she genuinely disappointed? I hoped she wouldn’t break our promise just because her feelings were hurt.
“Turn around.”
“Back?”
“I’ll just scrub your back. You wash the rest.”
“…Okay!”
Gods are a nuisance.
―Rumble.
With my condition recovered through exercise and nutrition, I pushed the boulder up again. I was heading for the eighth floor. I passed through snowy mountains, deserts, labyrinths, and grasslands, then crossed the volcano where the lava had cooled and hardened. It was a sight I was now all too familiar with.
“What a mess.” As I entered the eighth floor, the sunlight from the sky vanished as if someone had flipped a light switch. In the darkness, I could see eyes quietly watching us.
“It’s a pack of wolf beasts.” The path ahead was a narrow ledge where the boulder could barely pass. One wrong step and you’d plummet below.
―Whoosh….
An ominous wind blew.
“What happens if we fall?”
“I don’t know.”
“I’m sure it’ll send us back to the altar with magic or something. And break our bodies as a bonus.”
It was hard enough to roll the boulder on the dark cliff, but now a pack of wolves was waiting for an opening to attack from above.
“Bark, bark.”
“Grrr.”
The smell of them sticking out their tongues and drooling wafted all the way here. They looked thrilled at the thought of tearing me apart. It was a difficulty level most wouldn’t be able to pass. But to me, it looked quite simple now.
“This should do.”
Flash! I picked up the boulder.
“Bark?!”
The pack of wolves let out sounds of surprise, clearly not expecting me to do that.
“Hup.”
Whoosh— Thwack! I threw the boulder with all my might, hitting the wolves.
“Yelp!”
Two of them let out short screams and fell off the cliff. *Clack.* The boulder flew back into my hand due to the rebound. *Thwack! Yelp! Thwack, thwack! Yipe!* I moved forward, dealing with the remaining wolves with the boulder.
“Easy.”
When I reached the top of the cliff, only Chronos and I remained.
└─ Tier 1:[Throwing] — UNLOCKED ★
Thud. Thinking I’d reached the top, I set the boulder down. That was when it happened.
“Bark, bark, bark!”
It seemed one last one had remained. The wolf that had been hiding in the darkness charged at me. Because it was a cliff, the angle wasn’t good. I wouldn’t be hurt, but if the boulder fell, I’d have to start from the beginning, which was a pain.
“Stop.”
―Whoosh!
Golden mana flashed, tickling my eyes. Chronos, who had been following behind me, had used the authority of Time. ‘Magic.’ I didn’t know much, but I knew a mystery had occurred. The wolf, which had been charging madly with drool flying, had stopped right in its tracks as if the screen had been frozen. Chronos lightly flicked the wolf’s head and released the magic.
“Bark?!”
Unable to control its momentum, the wolf leaped off the cliff. Its howl faded away, creating a Doppler effect. Chronos smiled brightly at me.
“Let’s go.”
Even if I had a reason to be annoyed, I shouldn’t mess with this girl. I thought that and nodded.
[You have broken through the 8th floor, 'The Cliff'.]
[You have entered the 9th floor, 'Typhoon'.]
On the 9th floor, a sandstorm was blowing so hard I couldn’t see in front of me. A tremendous gale was blowing with enough force to send the boulder flying, but it wasn’t much of a problem.
⟨ Grasp Activated ⟩
Because I could just grab the boulder with my hand and drag it along. It felt like bowling.
―Ooooo!!
In the middle of it, a monster with glowing green eyes—some kind of wind wraith—appeared. It looked creepy, so I was surprised.
“What is this?”
Wham!
―Oooo….
I punched it in the solar plexus, and it didn’t appear again after that. Was this also a mid-boss like the lava golem? Probably not. It was too weak for that. I figured it was on par with the demon snake.
[You have defeated a disaster-class monster.]
[Your muscles are further strengthened by disaster-class mana.]
“Whew….” I looked back to see Chronos clutching her head, limping along as she walked. She had mana, so why was she struggling with a mere sandstorm? Yet, she didn’t ask for help.
“Hurry up.” I grabbed her wrist and pulled her along.
“…Ah, u-uh.” Chronos stared at me for a long time, tilting her head.
[You have broken through the 9th floor, 'Typhoon'.]
[You have arrived at the 10th floor, 'The Final Altar'.]
“My guess was right.”
This slope was the end of the 10th floor. It was easy to know this was the end. There was only one straight slope without any obstacles, and a single altar meant for placing the boulder sat there alone. The surroundings were covered in thick fog, so I couldn’t see anything.
Rumble. I tried pushing it up. Just as I had always done. One step, one step. Getting closer and closer. *Click.*
Thousands of years since I entered this tedious prison. I had finally reached the summit.
The moment I blinked, I was back at the starting altar. Warm sunlight and a cool breeze. A smooth boulder greeted me.
“…Sisyphus.”
I felt a cold touch on my chest. Chronos was looking up at me with worried eyes.
―Rumble.
I started pushing the boulder again.
“Sisyphus, are you okay….”
“It was as I expected.”
“Huh…?”
I climbed the slope.
“It’s a prison made by the gods. There’s no way it was made to be escaped so easily.”
“You knew?” Chronos blinked her large eyes.
“You said it, Chronos. That there must be an exit at the summit.”
“Yes.”
“Then that means that place wasn’t the summit of the mountain.”
I pushed the boulder. I arrived at the 10th floor once again.
“There must be a reason they blocked the view.”
The surroundings were full of fog. There were guardrails on both sides of the slope to keep the boulder from falling. They were high enough to block my view, too. For some reason, the height had dropped significantly now, and I could catch a glimpse beyond the guardrails. Thinking back, the guardrails that had blocked the slope until now were likely intended to block my view. If the boulder fell, they could just send me back to the beginning.
“This might be the end of the slope, but it’s not the summit of the mountain. Chronos, the dangerous thing you mentioned didn’t appear either.”
Thud, thud. I walked to the outer edge behind the final altar. Without hesitation, I swung my fist.
Wham! I smashed the guardrail. Through the cracks in the hazy fog, I could see something dark.
I returned to the altar.
“Hup.”
I struck down with my fist.
―Crash!
The marble pillar of the altar, which had been built in a classical style, collapsed. I picked up the pillar onto my shoulder. I firmly planted my right leg, which served as the axis, and exerted all my strength into my forearms. *Whoosh!* I threw the chunk of stone that had been the altar toward the fog.
…*Thud.* There was a sound of impact.
“There’s a rock wall.”
“…It seems so.”
What a ridiculous trick. I had only been climbing a slope built on the side of the mountain, and I hadn’t been doing any ‘mountain climbing’ in the true sense. The real mountain with an exit at the summit was a steep rock wall that would be impossible for a human to climb by force. A hollow laugh escaped me. But the answer was also simple.
“I just have to climb that.”
“Really?” Chronos’s eyes went wide.
“What about the boulder? You can’t push it up.”
“I’ll tie it to my body and carry it on my back.”
“You don’t even know how far you have to climb. You don’t know where the summit is, either.”
“It’s not much different from now, is it?”
“Sisyphus.” Chronos approached lightly, bent her waist, and looked up at me.
“You’re cool.”
I answered with a smile.
“I need to go down and do some training. And prepare plenty of meat and water. Since I don’t know how far I have to climb.”
“Yes, I’ll help you. How long will you do it?”
“Time is all I have.” I answered lightly.
“Five thousand years should be enough.”