The Center of the Macula (2)

The assistant, who had been grumbling and muttering for quite some time, suddenly broke into a fit of violent coughing and clamped his mouth shut. ‘To think the assistant... would be such a boomer.’ I hadn’t expected him to get so worked up just because we were a little late. Was he a guy with no patience? Regardless, my party and I walked across the contaminated subterranean lake, following the stone stele that had risen to the surface, until we reached the temple built at the center of the lake. It had looked unappealing from a distance, but it was even more hideous up close.

“Huuuuh....”

As we drew closer to the temple, Mer let out a sound that was almost a groan of lament. She grew increasingly anxious the nearer we got, as if her very instincts were rejecting the entity sleeping within. Henry, on the other hand, seemed completely unfazed. He just wanted to get out of this smelly, repulsive place that felt like a sewage treatment plant. I didn’t feel any particular anxiety either. My eyes were just a little irritated. ‘Is it because Mer is a Fallen Angel that she feels something we don’t...?’ I wasn’t sure. She had said that even when we went to face Botamilli, she had felt gazes peering at us. She claimed they were ‘something’ that existed even higher than the gods... Mer’s explanations still had parts that were hard to grasp. Well, if it’s hard to understand, it’s just a matter of embracing it. I took Mer’s hand, as she was clearly anxious. She was taller than me and a better fighter, making her a very reliable woman, but seeing her show such weakness occasionally stimulated my protective instincts.

Anyway, soothing the anxious Mer, we pushed forward and soon reached the temple entrance.

“Uuuuh. Should we clear it?”

“Uuuu. I suppose so...?”

The entrance was firmly blocked by yellow vines. We were gesturing and debating whether we should clear the vines and enter when the assistant inside spoke up, offering to clear them for us.

That grumbling old geezer of an assistant... Just from the sound of his voice, I figured he had to be at least a thousand years old. I bet Botamilli would be thrilled if I offered him as a sacrifice... but that wouldn’t work, would it? As I was having such irreverent thoughts, the yellow vines blocking the temple soon seeped into the ground, and the path opened.

[Everyone, come inside.]

We looked at each other and nodded. Since we couldn’t open our mouths properly, we shared our thoughts through our eyes. Fortunately, no one had come this far only to refuse to enter. Mer, despite her anxiety, seemed secretly curious about the entity sealed within. As for Henry, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he was brought along as a bodyguard, so there was no way he’d turn back. ‘Seeing as the Evil Gods haven’t given any warnings...’ There shouldn’t be any problems. They were the type to give a heads-up if they sensed anything strange. We stepped into the temple.

There was no yellow fog inside the temple. It seemed the vines growing within were absorbing all the impurities inside and exhaling them outward. That must be why the air inside was so clean. It was ironic that the source of the yellow toxic smoke was the temple, yet the air inside was so fresh.

‘This mask is so stifling... Do I have to keep biting down on this until we return...?’ Seeing the clean air made the urge to spit out the mask even stronger. My jaw felt like it was going to dislocate after having the mask in for nearly 25 hours. I felt like even if I took it off right now, it would take some time before I could close my mouth normally. Yet, I couldn’t bring myself to spit it out. Once I spat it out, I wouldn’t be able to use it again. Even if the air inside was clean, we had to traverse that yellow toxic smoke again on the way back.

Right on cue, the old man assistant told us we could spit out the masks. We checked each other’s reactions and then gingerly spat them out. Honestly, I was at my limit, so it was a relief. “Ptooey... Huuu... Sssss... Haaa.”

“I thought I was going to die from the stuffiness.”

“Agreed, Master. My jaw hurts so much.”

Henry wiped the saliva from his chin as soon as he spat out his mask. I patted Mer on the back for her hard work, and she continued to scan her surroundings with anxious eyes. “Mer. Do you know who that is?”

“Yes... I know. No, to be precise, I haven’t seen him in person... I’ve only heard of him.”

“Really...? Who is it? Is it Lucifer, perhaps?”

My guess was that the decrepit old man was definitely Lucifer. Since he was called the first Fallen Angel, it had to be Lucifer. To anyone who enjoyed subculture, Fallen Angel = Lucifer was practically common sense. You couldn’t even have a conversation about Fallen Angels without Lucifer. However, Mer shook her head.

“No... That is... um... Why can’t I remember? It’s like the word has been erased from my head... It seems to be deleted information...”

When I looked at her as if to ask if she didn’t know after all, Mer panicked and rambled excuses. “I, I don’t remember the name, but I know roughly what kind of entity it is...! That is not the fallen morning star... It’s an entity even older than that...”

The fallen morning star would be Lucifer. That meant this was something other than Lucifer. My prediction had been spectacularly wrong. I had secretly hoped to meet Lucifer in person... but it seemed I was about to encounter something even greater.

I quickly answered the old man who was urging us to hurry, and we rushed into the deepest part of the temple. If we wasted any more time here, he’d likely start nagging again.

Unlike how it looked from the outside, the interior of the temple was wider than I could have imagined. Space seemed to be distorted, making the inside and outside sizes different. Anyway, after walking inward for nearly an hour, we reached a massive door that looked to be about 3 meters tall. The door was engraved with all sorts of warnings. The images gave off the feeling that if you opened this door, everyone would die. Of course, I wasn’t the type to not open a door just because of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠warning like that. ‘There is a fortuitous encounter beyond this door...’ Henry and Mer, who were much stronger than me, each took one side and opened the door.

-Kugugugung...

As the door opened with a thunderous roar, an oppressive aura that made my skin sting erupted from the room.

“You’ve finally come.”

The sealed assistant greeted us with a light salutation. When I heard him via telepathy from afar, he sounded like nothing more than a frail old man from the house behind ours... but now, he possessed an aura that made my body tremble, like the voice of a grim reaper leading me to death. ‘So this was what Mer had been feeling since earlier.’ My heart pounded under the gaze that was contemplating me. It was certain that the owner of the voice was watching me from deep within that darkness.

-Gulp...

A sense of despair crawled up from within. I thought to myself that I could never win against this. Just by feeling the aura flowing out, I had already admitted defeat. Literally, the rank was different. This was an entity that had already transcended the realm of living creatures. ‘So this door was blocking the aura of that Evil God...’ I naturally perceived it as a ‘God.’ You might ask if I was overhyping it too much... but that was how it felt to me. Of course, I didn’t feel the overwhelming awe that I felt from Kashnakas or Indikron. But I definitely felt that it had transcended the fate of mortals like us.

‘Even when I first met Ziegfried... it wasn’t to this extent...’ I suddenly thought of Pandora’s Box. But there was one difference from Pandora’s Box: the fact that there wasn’t even vain hope inside. Yes, we had just opened a box containing despair.

“Huu... Can I not even discern its form with these eyes?”

Henry frowned, trying to stare directly at the entity beyond the darkness. But it seemed he couldn’t see it, as he just clicked his tongue while furrowing his brows. I also used my transformed vision to confirm the entity beyond the door, but my viewpoint shook, and the skill turned off on its own. As if to say it wouldn’t allow any skills. As we stood there unable to move, the assistant softened his aura slightly and spoke.

“Come in. Apostle of Disaster and the Debauchee of the Abyss. And... the Fallen Angel.”

We cautiously stepped inside the sealed area. As we drew closer, the form of the Evil God, who had been huddled at the bottom of the abyss, was revealed.

“Cough... Cough... You’ve come? Fufu... You have such disappointed expressions. Compared to the aura you felt, I must look quite pathetic, right?”

As if reading our eyes, he laughed hollowly and lamented his own situation. He ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was an old man who had half-collapsed. His entire body was covered in deep wrinkles, his clothes had rotted into rags, and he looked no different from a beggar as he sat cross-legged, bound by iron chains. Furthermore, his back was densely packed with things that looked like tentacles or tree roots, which were undulating... They seemed to be absorbing the pollutants flowing from the old man’s body. He must have been exhaling them outward. That was likely why this area became filled with yellow toxic fog, eventually becoming known as the Macula. Finally, his eyes were wrapped in cloth. How long had he endured, bound hand and foot, unable to see even an inch ahead...

I asked him his name. “Who... are you...”

“My name is Sataniel. The first angel to be enlightened, and the one who cast off his own wings and halo.”

Thus, the only angel to open the gates of Kabbalah and become the Gnostic God, the Demiurge. As his words ended, a halo shone for a brief moment, and the Kabbalah I had often seen in subculture floated in the air. Also, the old man momentarily appeared as a shape difficult to describe. From a triangle to a hexagram... from a hexagram back to a circle. The circle split and became a triangle again.... ‘Trinity... Star of David... and...’

A circulating sphere. Reincarnating souls and rings. A closed world that never breaks. The only sanctuary where dreams and lies are mixed.

“That’s enough.”

“Kuuugh....”

My eyes felt like they were going to burst. No, was my brain going to burst? I didn’t know. Information that my brain couldn’t possibly understand flowed in instantaneously. I quickly shook my head to try and forget the information I had just read. Even if I knew it, I had no use for it, nor could I use it. Soon, Botamilli’s aura enveloped me, and the impure knowledge scattered all at once. Having barely regained my composure, I checked on Mer and Henry. Since I, whose mental strength was near max, had received this much shock, there was no way the two of them were fine.

“Mer, are you okay...”

“Kueup...”

“Keuheok...”

As expected, it seemed I wasn’t the only one experiencing such symptoms. Henry and Mer, who were standing on either side of me, also seemed to have suffered mental shock and were sprawled out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in an incapacitated state. Henry was even trembling and calling for his mother, while Mer was drooling with a vacant expression, wailing for me not to abandon her. Both of them seemed to have lost their minds. I stroked their heads. Soon, Botamilli bestowed the blessing of oblivion upon them. Both of them closed their eyes. I felt that touching them any further would only have a counterproductive effect, so I left them alone and organized my thoughts.

‘So much for enlightenment... it was just as he said.’ As he claimed, Sataniel had walked down of his own volition; it was hard to see it as falling or being corrupted. It was different from a Fallen Angel who was forced by someone else. ‘And this entity is of a different caliber from the Evil Gods I’ve met until now.’ If the gods of Chaos, Abyss, and Void I had met so far were born as gods from the start... the old man before my eyes was an entity who had climbed up tooth and nail, accumulating eons of karma, and entered the ranks of gods. I wasn’t sure if I should call him a god or someone who almost became a god. Anyway, that seemed to be the case. He was an entity who had acquired the rank of a god through vast knowledge and effort.

“Now then... since the self-introductions are over, Apostle of Disaster. Come here. To me. And break these chains. The Seeker must have given you the item to break Gleipnir.”

I took the Jugu Axe from my pocket. The Jugu Axe was a hand axe made of obsidian, an item capable of breaking any kind of seal exactly once. I secretly doubted whether it was truly the right thing to do to set this monster free... but since I had already come this far, I couldn’t back down. I made a quick decision.

-Clang!!

-Clatter...

The black iron chains that had been tightly wrapped around Sataniel’s body snapped. Sataniel, now free, moved his arms around, let out a groan, and stood up unsteadily.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since I stood up from this spot... Cough! Cough!! Now, take this. This is the reason you came to see me.”

He coughed like a madman, then pulled a book out of thin air and handed it to me. It was a tattered, coverless book. An ancient manuscript that you’d only see in a museum. “This is...”

“It is an item called the Apocalypse.”

“Apocalypse...”

“Yes, it is a record of the end of the universe... and the reason we are called Evil Gods. Also, it is an item that must be handed over when an Apostle of the Manma-jeon finds me by any means.”

I opened the Apocalypse. However, the letters written in the book were so damaged that they were hard to decipher. I didn’t even know what language it was. No detailed description popped up either... What was this? It didn’t seem to be an item... Was it related to the red fruit that Botamilli had given me?

“I’m sorry, but... I can’t read this...”

“That’s because it’s not an item meant for reading.”

“Excuse me?”

“It is a kind of symbol. Cough..! It is proof that you are the representative of the Manma. We have already grasped all the contents, so there is no need for you to know. It’s just a shitty story written about how the universe is doomed if things go on like this.”

“Uh... no... that was a huge piece of foreshadowing just now...”

“Why are you being so inquisitive? Didn’t you have a personality that dislikes complicated things?”

“Uh... how did you know that...”

“I can tell roughly by your physiognomy. So, you just have to walk the path we guide you along. And when you become the Unique One... you can decide the end on our behalf.”

I found it hard to understand Sataniel’s words. Being the Unique One, or choosing the end... honestly, it sounded like nothing but empty talk. After all, there was no entity that had clearly explained this disaster or the game to me. But one thing was certain: as he said, I disliked unnecessarily complicated things. Therefore, I nodded as if I were convinced.

“With this, our meeting has been successfully concluded. The branches of the world line will fluctuate once. Cough...!! Ahem.. Looking at how things are going... you must be the only Apostle of the Manma-jeon. Haa.. well, fine. You’ve proven your qualifications just by finding me...”

Sataniel nodded as if it didn’t matter, then sat back down in his spot. No, he lay down. “Now, get out. Since I’ve been released after so long, I need to get some sleep.”

“Uh... uh-huh...”

Sataniel waved his hand, telling us to leave... The oppressive aura from before had long since vanished. Perhaps it was a power he had shown by squeezing out every last bit of his strength. His physical condition also seemed terrible... ‘Still... to think it ends with just this tattered book... is there nothing else...? Like a skill... or what would he give me if I offered him a sacrifice...’ I had gone through so much hell to get here... That sense of entitlement to a reward acted up, and as I lingered without leaving, Sataniel muttered in a voice that sounded like he was dying of sleepiness.

“Haa.. come back later... I’ll strengthen your companions... Huu.. Seeing that girl who used to be an angel acting so feeble makes my blood boil. I’ll restore my erased powers... Zzz... Zzz... Heok.. Haa.. what... you haven’t left yet...”

It seemed he was going to give something to Mer. ‘Restoring Mer’s powers... that... might be good...’ How strong would Mer be once she regained her original power, free from the constraints of skills or the system? At least she’d be on the level of an Eight-Earth. This was enough of a reward. I quickly bowed my head and led my party outside. I couldn’t wake the old man while he was sleeping.