Chapter 102
Chapter 102
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: To the World's Bottomless Pit, Samcheong-dong Investigation (5)
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12.
"So, what's the name?"
"Name?"
"[CODE: 259] can't be a name. It's not enough."
"It's enough."
"It's not! How important is a name?"
"Terry...? I'm tired, so can we stop here for today?"
"Aren't these the kids you've given the biggest job to among the dragonkin? Is it that hard to give them a name?"
"……."
"Their bodies are made of ice, right? So from now on, those kids... yeah! How about simply calling them Bingryong?"
13.
"One of the five absolute gods, the apostle of Labelhain's lord—that's how I'd answer."
No way.
In that instant, Kserinia's advice flashed through my mind.
- The end of the light's mission... it lies in defeating all the apostles of the five absolute gods.
Is that it... so that's how it is.
Was the reason the Dawn Sword trembled... because it encountered a powerful foe?
"You're... far too hasty in your judgments."
As if reading my gaze, Paul clicked his tongue.
"You can't be like that. The weight of your true mission is far too heavy... You'll need to grow swiftly, both inwardly and outwardly."
"Are you an ally?"
"If I were an enemy, your lover would already be swallowed by the black flames, reduced to a corpse."
Come to think of it... that's right.
As if agreeing with Paul's words, the Dawn Sword's radiance began to fade.
Are you really his comrade?
But... my doubts remained unresolved.
"You said it yourself. Apostle of an absolute god."
"I was an apostle. I no longer belong to the outer universe."
With that, Paul suddenly removed his eyepatch... no, what?
"The price wasn't small, though."
There were no eyeballs.
Did he gouge them out and cauterize them himself...? I swallowed dryly and barely managed to speak.
"If you were an apostle of the absolute gods... then you're one of the beings who destroyed this world... aren't you?"
That's clear up to here.
And if this being survived that battle royale... there's only one answer.
"No way... the Nameless Demigod?"
Only after saying it did I realize I'd muttered it without thinking.
He looks completely different.
Do Ye-jin described the man as a young man, but the being before me looks like a boy.
"The Nameless Demigod. I don't know which god that refers to."
He doesn't know that being?
It's a name that appears in almost every major tooltip?
"No time, so I'll only answer your first question. Yes. I intended to destroy this world."
"Why?"
He didn't answer for a long while.
Only when the long silence grew uncomfortable did I hear Paul's reply.
"I had a desperate wish, and the outer universe promised to grant it."
"A wish?"
A bitter smile formed on the boy's dry, cracked lips.
"But I gave up midway."
"……?"
"Because I realized this world wasn't just a simple game, but a real one."
A game?
What does that...?
No, wait. Shin Tae-yeop definitely mentioned playing some game too.
- But... I can't remember.
So I fumbled with my words before opening my mouth.
"By any chance... do you know Shin Tae-yeop?"
At my question, Paul slowly shook his head.
"I said I'd only answer the first question. You don't have time. Or rather, your woman doesn't."
"……?"
"Seskari's curse is still active. I merely weakened its power."
I gasped in that instant.
No time...? Pondering his words, a hoarse voice escaped my throat.
Doesn't that mean... there's time to save Jeong Ha-kyeong?
"Can you... save Ha-kyeong?"
I asked urgently.
"Is that possible?"
Paul nodded.
"Exactly so."
In the world.
In this world.
"No... how could that be."
For a moment, I nearly collapsed beside Jeong Ha-kyeong. Nearly sobbed like a boy.
"Wait. Don't be optimistic yet. The situation isn't good."
"……?"
"You must kill Seskari to lift this curse."
Paul gestured with his chin toward Jeong Ha-kyeong collapsed before the altar.
"I'll buy you three hours. Until then, my power can hold back the curse of regression."
"……?!"
"Let me say this first. The black flames I have left are mere scraps now. I can't help in battle."
Help in battle?
That wasn't the point.
"What if it exceeds three hours?"
"I'll say it plainly. Your woman... will be erased from existence in this world."
Three hours.
I checked my wristwatch.
19:30. My back straightened in an instant.
No room for choice.
No question of trusting this boy called Paul or not.
I could only trust the Dawn Sword.
"What must I do?"
"You don't need to worry about how at all."
For some reason, the boy's voice sounded utterly desolate and poignant....
"The one who destroyed this world five times... will tell you everything."
Long ago.
In the grand cathedral library.
Just like the smile Kim Gye-sang wore.
"The way to reach this pitiful world's ending...."
14.
The blizzard grew ever more fierce.
Right then, before me, a fist-sized black flame halted.
Paul's authority.
- This black flame will guide your path.
I stopped following it.
Exhaling white breath, I raised my head. A bell toll resounded, filling my ears.
A bell tower stood right before me.
I came to the right place... Paul really knows this world inside out.
- To defeat Seskari, first take down the five ice dragons.
- ...Five ice dragons?
- This final city has five bell towers in total. The ice dragons have barriers over them.
That barrier was none other than.
The blizzard barrier now blanketing this world in white.
- Take down the five ice dragons.
Then.
The barrier will lift, allowing you to face Seskari.
- This is the path to the bad ending.
Bad ending....
I clenched my fist.
Took a deep breath, drew the Dawn Sword from its sheath on my back.
As I headed for the bell tower, Paul's mutterings came to mind.
- I destroyed this world many times. Back when it was a game.
The absolute gods mimicked this world to create a virtual one.
And delivered that virtual world.
To Earthlings in the form of a game.
- It wasn't a game. This world was the five absolute gods' proxy battlefield.
Did [Master of the Broken Dawn] and Shin Tae-yeop get caught up in that war too?
- Why?
- To select elites... so-called apostles.
The dragon's roar erupted right around then.
"Begone, mortal."
Just as Paul said.
At 30 meters, the first warning comes.
"Do not interfere with the last true dragon's mission."
One more step.
"This is a warning."
At 25 meters, it threateningly extends its long neck.
Now. The real problem is at 20 meters.
It uses the dragonkin-exclusive AoE crowd control 《Absolute Domain》, then spatially teleports the bell tower away.
- This is the bad ending route. Even three hours is tight. No room for failure.
That's when I asked Paul.
- Why must we take the bad ending route? Isn't there a happy ending route?
- Happy ending?
Paul had given a most wretched smile then.
- There was a time I frantically searched for it.
- ……?
- A story from my youth... Give up. This world has no happy ending. Normal ending, maybe.
- Normal ending?
- Enough. Even if I told you, you couldn't do it.
One more step.
As I moved forward.
"Halt!"
The dragon inhaled deeply with its final warning.
The precast for 《Absolute Domain》.
Now I should prepare my footwork. To slaughter that ice dragon.
But I didn't.
That's only for the bad ending route.
Instead, I shouted this.
"Subordinate of the last dragon Seskari! Hear my words!"
- Grant rest to my child....
Back when I was talking with Paul earlier.
Was it coincidence that Kserinia's words came to mind?
- To reach the normal ending, you need the reward from a fairly complex hidden quest.
To Paul, who said that.
I suddenly removed my leather glove, showing the stigmata on the back of my hand.
The Ice Dragon King's stigmata.
A gift from the dragon lady Kserinia.
- Is there no way to use this?
Though sightless, did he sense its aura?
- This... where and how did you get this?
Paul showed extreme bewilderment.
- Did you kill Kserinia? Defeat Roheirits...?
- ……?
- No, no. Even then, you couldn't obtain it. You're male, aren't you? Only female players can get it.
- Kill? No way. Is it that surprising... is this that amazing?
- Amazing?
Paul's voice even trembled at length then.
- This is... the hidden quest reward.
What?
That means... no way.
- By any chance... the key to the normal ending?
- Yes. Now listen well.
The way to reach this world's normal ending.
The first step.
Recite the following loudly.
"I am Kim Baek-jun, successor of Verkenxia."
Originally it's [Successor of Light], but I decided to follow Paul's advice.
"I have come to this final land to deliver the promise of rest."
The second.
Remove the leather glove and extend the back of your hand toward the ice dragon. Precisely, the Ice Dragon King's stigmata.
"To grant rest to the last dragon's mission, now at its end."
The ice dragon, mouth agape, about to cast 《Absolute Domain》.
"………………...?"
It paused for a moment, looked at me, and uttered incomprehensible draconic words.
"BIRA...... KIFARS?"
Then, something wondrous happened. The Ice Dragon King's stigmata began to flicker with brilliant light, didn't it?
"……?!"
A silence that felt eternal.
My heart beat once, twice, three times.
Chills ran down my spine then.
In an instant, the ice dragon spread its massive wings and soared into the blizzard.
What?
Did I make a mistake?
Where is it going all of a sudden? We don't have time.
As my mind went blank white, suddenly something landed before me.
The ice dragon.
The ground shook violently.
Snow scattered in all directions.
In that chaos, the ice dragon stared straight at me, at the back of my hand, with its blue dragon eyes.
After 10 seconds, 20 seconds perhaps.
"Befaronum...."
Something astonishing happened.
The ice dragon exhaled through its nostrils, then suddenly prostrated politely in the snow, didn't it?
"Forgive my rudeness. This lowly one receives the great Dragon King's proxy."
Ice dragons are true dragon subordinates.
According to Paul, the difference in rank is immense.
There, Dragon King means the king of true dragons.
This reaction from the ice dragon is only natural, if natural.
- In this world's dragonkin society, pressing body and neck flat to the ground is the oath of submission.
"Salparas...... Tread upon my body and ascend."
My heart began pounding fiercely.
"I offer my life to guide you to my siblings."
It's done... it's done!
Thrills swept through my body.
Unknowingly, I clenched my fist. Because.
- If the first ice dragon acts like that toward you.
In my mind, Paul's teachings were resurrecting.
- Think it's started. The normal ending route.
Normal ending route.
Here, no need to slay the ice dragons one by one or hunt them down.
- This is why the difficulty between bad ending and normal ending is worlds apart.
"DurCIIELLRA...... To the last dragon's mission, now grant rest."
Instead, the ice dragons become allies.
Stalwart allies for toppling the true dragon Seskari.