The God of the Strangers
"You are the heroes of the Greek army."
"And you are the heroes of the Trojan army."
The Curator strolled leisurely toward the altar. That huge, endless slab of stone we could never have crossed on our own—it passed beneath our feet as smoothly as if we were simply walking through it. Then, standing at the very center of the altar, the Curator turned from one group of visitors to the other and began to explain.
"The War of the Gods."
"Fulfill your team's victory conditions, and you may become the victors of this war."
The Curator projected a Leaflet into the vision of each team, theirs and ours.
Shff—
Greek Army — March Route
Outside the walls of Troy → City Gate → Temple → Heart of Troy (Royal Palace)
Trojan Army — March Route
Heart of Troy (Royal Palace) → Temple → City Gate → Outside the walls of Troy
Final Victory Conditions
Greek Army: Complete the Trojan Horse and advance into the Royal Palace square. Capture Troy through direct assault.
Trojan Army: Successfully defend the Royal Palace. Deplete the Greek Army's resources (Wood, Mana, Stamina).
Troy and Greece march along routes that are exact opposites of each other.
"Each team must satisfy the common condition as well as its own two victory conditions."
"And as written, this war is played over three turns. You may climb two floors per turn."
Two floors per turn, over three turns—and we were currently on Floor 13. It was a staggering benefit. Of course, the quest itself would be every bit as brutal in proportion.
"Wait, so in three turns we'd reach Floor 19?! That's insane!"
"Ah. On the final turn, you may climb three floors at once."
We'd climb all the way to Floor 20? The War of the Gods really was on another level. I marveled inwardly, trying to quiet my pounding heart.
"In exchange, each turn comes with its own additional rule."
And just then, the Curator graciously helped my heart go cold.
"A god piece and one player will be designated as the Sacrifice. Each army's Sacrifice must face their counterpart on the board, without exception."
"Separate from the ultimate victory condition of sacking or defending Troy, when the Sacrifices meet, the Sacrifice of the defeated army will be erased."
"?!"
Damn it. Whatever warmth my hopes for Floor 20 had held drained away completely. A player would become the Sacrifice—and that Sacrifice would be erased.
"D-does that mean a visitor gets eliminated?"
"That is correct."
The Student's lips had gone pale and bloodless as he forced the question out, and the Curator—determined to hammer the nail in—answered in a voice pitched deliberately clearer.
Which means no matter how this plays out, sacrifice is unavoidable. Whether it was the three of us, or the people standing across from us—three people were going to fall and vanish. It was that simple.
"No! Hell no! Can't we just do three rounds like you said?! Why does one person have to disappear every single turn!!"
From the far side of the altar, a grizzled middle-aged man was shrieking himself hoarse. Their side was every bit as rattled as we were. But even as the man swung his thick fists in outrage, the Curator ignored him completely, as though he simply didn't exist. Then the Curator pivoted gracefully and returned to explaining the quest.
"Now. Before you stand the God Pieces."
The moment the Curator finished speaking, the gods vanished as if by magic. They melted away into the clouds, and before long, something heavy settled against my palm. Wondering if I was actually holding something, I opened my fist.
Habaek, Apollo, Seth.
They were chess-like pieces, each sculpted to capture its god's character. Those colossal deities who had been staring down at us moments ago were now small enough to rest in the cup of my hand.
"Each player may select one god piece to control, and each god possesses a special ability that can be activated."
"Regardless of how near or far the players are from one another, a special ability can be triggered the moment its conditions are met."
I was straining my ears, desperate to hear what each god's special ability actually was, when the Curator leaned back and began radiating the unmistakable air of an exit. Wait—that's it? That's the whole explanation?
"As for the rest of the system, you may discover it as you play."
"Oh, give me a break! The least you could do is explain things properly!!"
Frantic with frustration, the middle-aged man on the other side pounded his own chest with his fist. Naturally, the Curator didn't so much as twitch—just like before. Instead, sweeping his robe across the altar board as though drawing open a curtain of darkness, the Curator made his final proclamation.
Dong—
A clear, elegant chime rang out across the hall. In the wake of the Curator's passing robe, life breathed into the altar board. Some squares sprouted growing plants; others flowed with running water. It was like a miniature, flattened Earth.
"……"
Jang Siwoon, the Student, and I all held our tongues, eyes darting back and forth. Being forced to hash out strategy on the spot, we couldn't help but feel at a loss.
"Jisan-ssi, look at them over there. They don't seem to have any intention of teaming up with us to rig the board, do they?"
"No. They don't."
The people across from us were covering their mouths and sneaking glances our way, murmuring so quietly that not a single word escaped their huddle. A proposal would be pointless anyway. I'd already watched cooperation fall apart during the Rabbit Magistrate quest, and I had no desire to waste energy on another doomed alliance.
"Who wants to go first, huh?!"
"Mister, can you keep it down?! They can hear every word!"
There you go. Not the slightest intention of changing the outcome of this quest together. Ever since what happened with Yang Myeonghyun, I'd wanted to spare visitors from sacrifice whenever I could—so watching this stung a little.
"So. Who's going first?"
Jang Siwoon cut straight to the point, aiming the question at the Student and me. Who would be the first player?
The Curator had explained only the most bare-bones rules and nothing more. What traits each god possessed, whether the map hid penalties or bonuses in its squares—those were things we'd have to learn by colliding with them head-on.
"I don't mind going first."
"…Why, though?"
Jang Siwoon had volunteered as the first runner without a moment's hesitation, and her breezy tone left me suspicious. There had to be a reason she'd willingly taken the most dangerous slot.
"In exchange, I want us to pick god pieces in player order. First player picks first."
"……"
"You can grant me at least that much, right?"
…Yeah. There it is. Jang Siwoon was trading a dangerous gamble for the god she wanted. And honestly, it wasn't an unreasonable demand. Whoever leaps first into a deadly board has earned the right to claim the strongest piece.
"Which one are you picking, noona?"
"Seth."
"And if the other team grabs Horus?"
"Doesn't matter. At the end of the day, this game comes down to what the players can do. Seth suits my style better than Apollo, that's all."
Seth, huh. It actually sounded like a good match for Jang Siwoon the former athlete. The destructive, vicious god of chaos, paired with quick-footed, hard-hitting Jang Siwoon.
The moment Jang Siwoon laid claim to her piece, the Student's hand shot up, unable to hide his impatience.
"…Then can I take Apollo? In exchange, I'll let hyung play the final turn."
"……"
Give up Habaek, in exchange for the last turn. I turned the offer over in my head. There was no question that among the gods in this war, Habaek was the most minor. But the final turn meant I'd have time to read the structure of the game and the enemy's tendencies. After a long moment of deliberation, I accepted the Student's terms.
"Deal. Let's do it that way. Everyone okay with that?"
"Yes."
"Yes. Thanks, Jisan-ssi."
Though honestly, I'd found my own way to survive, too—this wasn't some purely selfless arrangement for their sake. Either way, mercifully, we ended up as a team without any major complaints.
There was little more strategy to be drafted for Turn 1. We'd have to wait until we'd mapped out the detailed rules and each god's traits, then plan properly before Turn 2.
Please, please—just don't let it be Horus. Watching Jang Siwoon's back as she stepped forward clutching the tiny Seth piece, I prayed silently. Seth had lost to Horus in Egyptian myth, and I wanted to keep those two apart at all costs.
Over on the enemy side, the youngest man of their group had stepped up as their pick.
He looks absolutely miserable. The middle-aged man and woman had evidently shoved the job onto him for no better reason than his age.
"Let the War of the Gods begin."
Zeus's voice rolled out across the battlefield like thunder echoing off distant peaks. Strongest among all the gods assembled here, he had taken the judge's seat rather than a place in the war itself.
"Seth, and—"
Zeus called Jang Siwoon's piece first. We swallowed hard and waited for the enemy's piece to be named.
And then—
"Horus."
"Damn it…"
Jang Siwoon spat the curse out loud, the exact opposite of the enemy's young man, who thrust his fist into the air in celebration.
Ominous right out of the gate. Still, I couldn't just stand by and let Jang Siwoon lose. Combine her monstrous stamina with our strategy, and victory was absolutely within reach.
"AAAAGH—?!"
"Siwoon-ssi…!"
Jang Siwoon's body shrank down in an instant and was sucked onto the Sacrificial Altar Board. Like a piece settling onto a chessboard, she came to rest on the very first square—the Royal Palace.
"Noona just went inside that thing."
"…She even shrank."
The enemy's young man shrank down just like her, coming to stand at the square on the opposite end—the outer wall.
"So this isn't about commanding a god at all—we're marching with them."
The chosen Horus and Seth pieces had grown larger instead, now standing roughly as tall as their players.
"The two visitors will roll the dice in place of the players who have become Sacrifices."
"Us…?!"
Anxious under the weight of Jang Siwoon's fate now resting on his shoulders, the Student shot the question back at the Curator.
"Please, don't worry."
"You are one team, supporting your Sacrifice."
"You may roll the dice—or observe the map from a distance the Sacrifice cannot, keeping watch over the situation."
In other words: Jang Siwoon was the main player, running the board with her own two feet, while we were the long-range strategists behind her.
"Will we be able to communicate with Siwoon-ssi while she's inside that board?"
"Zephyrus will carry your words to her."
It was a poetic flourish—the west wind god delivering messages on the breeze. Stripped of the mythology, it simply meant we'd be able to talk with the shrunken Jang Siwoon without any trouble.
"Siwoon-ssi, can you hear me?"
"Yeah? What is this thing. Feels like I've got wireless earbuds in."
"That's a relief."
Jang Siwoon's voice came through crisp and clear in our ears. The other team seemed to be talking among themselves as well, but now that the war had officially begun, nothing carried over to us unless they flat-out shouted it.
"First—Seth's turn."
From high in the sky, Zeus dropped the dice down before us. The Student snatched up the die as it went clattering and rolling across the altar.
"Mind if I throw it?"
"…You're the lucky one, remember?"
"Not bad, right."
Right. I'm the unlucky type—better to leave this to him. I nodded, and the Student immediately threw the die. It tumbled across the board, rolled, and finally came to a stop.
"One."
At Zeus's command, Jang Siwoon advanced one square forward from the heart of the Royal Palace. The moment she set foot on it, a Leaflet unfolded in the empty air.
Shff—
"Within this square, thou art safe."
A sanctuary. After the Leaflet appeared, nothing happened at all. The shrunken Jang Siwoon turned back toward us and let out a long sigh of relief.
"Jisan-ssi, Student~ Looks like this one's just a rest square."
"Thank God…"
The Student, who'd thrown the die, finally let his shoulders drop along with her. Then, pushing his glasses up his nose, he began calmly counting the squares on the board.
"To finish Turn 1, she has to cover sixteen squares."
"That's not so many, honestly. There are four squares between each region—and counting the palace center, the temple, the gate, and the outer wall squares themselves, that's sixteen total."
Four squares between every region, plus the region squares themselves—sixteen in all. I still hadn't grasped the exact rules, but if we meant to defend the Royal Palace of Troy, it would be advantageous to push toward the outer wall as fast as possible and use our ability there.
Even if she can't make it all the way to the outer wall, we absolutely have to hold the line at the City Gate.
"The rules are a lot like famous board games. Except—"
"—except they'll wedge in artistic knowledge and deduction puzzles on top, just to make our heads hurt. Am I right?"
The Student had this tower's riddle-style quests pegged perfectly, too. Having to absorb knowledge of artworks while gambling your life on every move—my skull was going to split open.
"Oh."
Just then, Jang Siwoon let out a small exclamation of wonder.
"Siwoon-ssi? Do you see something? Did the scenery change?"
"No, it's—"
It's what?
"The floor of the game board just got crazy soft. But seriously, what kind of Sanctuary is this? Is it because it's the Royal Palace?"
"Insolent fool."
At Jang Siwoon's flippant joke, Seth—the god standing right beside her—finally opened his mouth.