Chapter 198
Chapter 198
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 198
Chapter Title: The Tower of Trials
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"...Where is this?"
Ramin's question was answered by Bion.
"Don't you know? This is the Primordial Land."
Ramin looked up.
It was a landscape he'd only heard about in stories.
All that met his eyes was a vast blue plain.
Scattered across that plain were people dozing peacefully.
"Does that mean we're dead?"
"Yes."
"What?"
"Just kidding."
Ramin stared blankly at Bion.
Bion ignored Ramin's gaze and continued.
"There are many paths to the Pantheon, but for the living to cross over, certain procedures must be followed. Of course, there are faster ways, but since you all have a place to visit first, we've had to come here."
"A place we have to visit?"
"Yes. Get on the carriage."
Ramin looked around in confusion, wondering what carriage he meant, and spotted a massive shadow that definitely hadn't been there moments ago.
It was too big to call a carriage.
It had four wheels, each one with a diameter of at least five meters.
The path up to the carriage body on the axle was a tall staircase, and the top was as wide as the deck of a large sailing ship.
Above all, what pulled the carriage wasn't a horse or any ordinary beast.
It was a gigantic stag beetle.
Once everyone had boarded, the stag beetle spoke.
Ramin remembered the name of the famous guardian.
Ramin leaned over the carriage railing to look down at Hecap.
"Guardian Hecap?"
Ramin felt uneasy about sitting comfortably on a carriage pulled by someone like Hecap, who could be seen as an elder or superior.
"...Uh, sorry."
Ramin was about to say something like "You don't have to go that far," but Bion spoke first.
"Hecap, let's hurry."
Hecap began to move.
Ramin turned to Bion.
"War?"
"While finding Hwikyung, Yacheon turned the Wrathful One's conspiracy against him. Thanks to that, the Wrathful One took a major blow, and unlike previous wars, Yacheon has decided it's more advantageous to end this one quickly. As a result, movements of the Allied Kingdoms are being detected worldwide."
"Then, what I mean is..."
Ramin glanced at Hwikyung and Sairan, who were embracing each other.
Ramin whispered to Bion.
"Wouldn't it help the war even a little if we left those two and headed back?"
Bion shook his head.
"The war is important, but so is the reason we called you here. Don't worry about the war. Everything is proceeding according to His will."
Hecap was fast.
But the scenery was changing even faster than Hecap's steps.
Ramin thought it wasn't just Hecap's speed, but some secret power in the carriage itself.
After crossing a good portion of the primordial plains, massive snow-capped mountains, dense forests, rivers, and lakes came into view.
They were the afterlives once held by other gods of the continent, now all similar to the primordial plains.
Just as Lizardmen felt peace on the plains, dwarves in the mountains, kobolds in their burrows.
As Ramin gazed at the scenery, he noticed Juran talking with Hwikyung and Sairan, so he approached.
Sairan said.
"So you're a descendant of the Church and Hwikyung."
"A few generations up, yes. And it's an honor... I even received your name. Of course, my grandmother always doubted if we were worthy of inheriting it..."
"No matter. It was Hwikyung's will, so I'd allow it anyway, but even without that, your bloodline is more than qualified to bear Muel's name. The Church was a good man."
Hwikyung, having cried her fill, wiped her reddened eyes.
"I thought you'd say that. You're still my descendants."
Juran smiled faintly.
The Church had been Hwikyung's second husband.
Childhood friend, stayed by her side when Sairan was gone, helped her escape when leaving Automatism.
Because of that, his family endured persecution for a long time.
But now, affirmed by the two most deserving, the family's long-standing wish was fulfilled.
Ramin cleared his throat.
"Um, Sairan."
"What is it?"
"Do you know where we're going? This guy seems hard to ask..."
Sairan smiled slightly.
"Bion has sharp ears. He probably heard everything you just said. Better watch what you say around him."
Ramin glanced at Bion.
Bion was pretending not to hear.
"And I don't know either."
Hwikyung interjected.
"Maybe it's to punish us."
No one could respond to that.
It was a plausible guess.
Hwikyung said calmly.
"For ages, I falsely claimed to be His priest, confusing people. And I performed miracles borrowing His power. So after all that time and effort to find me... isn't it to punish me?"
Sairan said.
"That won't happen."
"...Sairan. We have to consider the worst case. To prepare our hearts."
"...I'll stop it."
"You died for Yacheon once. Now you'll defy His will?"
Sairan said firmly.
"Yes. That was a mistake. If it comes to opposing Him, I'll see it as a chance to correct that mistake."
"Really?"
"Yes. Hwikyung, Yacheon led us to become beings who can act as we will. So we must take responsibility for that."
Ramin panicked at Sairan's words implying he might even attack Yacheon if needed.
"W-Wait a minute. Didn't you say Bion has sharp ears? Isn't that you?"
"Bion keeps his mouth shut. That's why he's the Pantheon's errand boy. Even if Yacheon hears my words, He'd think twice about punishing me rather than how to handle me if I truly defy His will."
Ramin thought that made sense too.
Yacheon seemed more ruthless than the other gods of the Pantheon.
Bion spoke.
"I see the tower."
"Tower?"
Sairan nodded.
"The Tower of Trials."
Ramin hadn't thought of it as a tower.
He'd seen it only as a white line stretching between earth and sky.
But as Hecap's carriage drew closer, it revealed itself as man-made, not natural.
The slender white tower grew larger the nearer they got, and soon a massive city built at its base came into view.
Ramin knew about that white tower.
The Tower of Trials was built after the Pantheon's founding, connecting the Primordial Land to higher realms.
But true to its name, not just anyone could ascend to the upper world.
The interior was a complex labyrinth that expelled those unqualified.
Bion said.
"Many of the dead choose dreamless slumber, but those who wake can live freely on the Primordial Land. They can run the plains under the eternal sun, climb mountains, swim rivers. But to reach higher worlds, one must prove worthy. That city at the base was built by those who failed the tower, praying one day to climb it."
Ramin asked.
"I heard the requirements are strict."
"Yes. If you didn't achieve great deeds, vast knowledge, heroic honors in war, or something extraordinary in life, you must strive to become such a person in death."
Not everyone, but some desired higher realms after death.
Thus, Pantheon followers worked to meet the tower's values.
Oddly, even though little was known about the world atop the tower.
'All that's confirmed is getting closer to the gods.'
The tower's immense size was said to be because it tested sinners or the punished more rigorously, not just a single trial.
Ramin looked troubled as Bion said.
"So we have to take the trial too?"
"No exceptions. Since the Pantheon's founding, all dead must pass the trial to reach the upper world."
"...I see."
"Not this time, of course. I mean when you eventually die."
"Wait, didn't you just say no exceptions?"
Bion didn't answer and muttered something toward Hecap.
Hecap bypassed the city and charged toward the white tower.
"But how do we climb without the trial? Is there a secret entrance?"
Bion replied.
"No. Once inside, we navigate the complex interior. There are shortcuts, but since we came by carriage, no need."
"Huh?"
Clunk!
Hecap began crawling up the tower's outer wall.
The carriage jolted a bit, but even at a near-90-degree angle, no one fell.
It felt like gravity pulled toward the tower.
Bion said.
"Amazing, right? Insects don't distinguish much between ground and walls."
"...Uh, that's not what surprises me."
Ramin looked out, seeing the Primordial Land and city receding.
Ramin said.
"If word got out you can climb the exterior, wouldn't others try it?"
"Some already do."
"...Is that okay?"
"Yes. Climbing the outer wall qualifies you for the upper world."
Ramin gauged the tower's height and agreed.
The tower, extending endlessly by the carriage's mystic power, soon showed its end.
Looking down, the Primordial Land curved; looking up, the sky-filled space darkened into star-speckled void.
Then Ramin spotted something odd at the tower's base.
The air tore open, a flat slab protruding.
From above, it looked small, but from ground level, tens of kilometers long.
"...What's that?"
Bion answered Ramin's question.
"A Return is happening. Things are about to get busy."
"Return?"
Bion glanced at Hwikyung and said.
"There was a false god called the Backer. And people who died believing in that false god. They were held in the Wrathful One's world until now. But Yacheon slew the Backer and revealed Himself as the true one."
"Ah, so then..."
"Yes."
Bion looked down at the severed land.
"By the power of causality, those who died believing in the Backer are returning to us. That fragmented land holds Pantheon believers being returned. Small Returns have happened before, but this massive one is a first."
Then another light appeared over the returning land.
A massive being with a white buffalo skull on its head, body shrouded in night sky, stars and rippling aura shining, reached toward the fragments.
Bion said.
"Yacheon is blending the lands."
Literally.
Yacheon reached out, sliced the Primordial Land, and slowly fitted the returned fragments in.
For a brief moment, Ramin felt Yacheon's gaze upon them.
Bion said.
"We'll meet Him closer soon. Now look up, Ramin."
Ramin raised his head.
"We're almost at the upper world."
Hecap crested the tower's tip.