Paradise Lost
No one knows the exact reason, but the true heavenly realm that once existed above the clouds was destroyed long ago. All that's left up there now is a pigeon monster's nest, and the Heavenly God worshipped by the heavenly beings vanished at some point. Hell, it's not even clear if a Heavenly God ever truly existed in the first place.
What is certain is this: a pigeon monster with unknown origins and mind-control abilities stole the position of Heavenly God and began parasitizing it. It cunningly twisted the doctrines of the Heavenly God Church, turning the heavenly beings into slaves confined to its nest, offering tribute as food.
The funny part? That pigeon monster itself has barely any intelligence. It just has monstrous power; at its core, it's nothing more than a beast that eats and shits. In the end, it'll devour every last heavenly being. That's the fate of every tower's 15th-floor heaven—they're all pigeon nests, slowly marching toward destruction.
Even challengers who know this truth can't do a damn thing about it. Without community influence, players only learn the facts after fighting the 15th-floor boss—a lesser version of the monster with two heads. Even if they realize the truth and want to take down the Heavenly God afterward, the door to its nest won't open for those who've been purified of impurity.
Those who learn via the community face the same issue: you need to be unpurified to challenge it. But taking on a hidden boss with half your stats crippled is suicide. Everyone who's boldly tried has gone silent forever.
“Th-that can't be... This is our Heavenly God's... true form...?”
The High Priest shed bloody tears, his face a mask of devastation after my brief explanation. To learn that the god he'd worshipped his whole life was some monster shell, and that they weren't holy at all—it had to hit hard mentally, plus the overflowing mana in this space was amplifying the shock.
“Get the fuck out of here.”
I shoved aside the convulsing High Priest after force-feeding him a red potion, then charged at the pigeon monster. No time to babysit him now.
I hadn't activated Mana Reinforcement from the start for nothing. Despite its ridiculous appearance, this pigeon packed disgustingly immense power—and it revealed a fraction of that the moment I leaped forward.
-Flash!
A blinding light filled my vision, and the next instant, flames clung to my entire body. The same holy fire Ropiel had wielded. Of course it was—the source of the priests' graces was this thing.
The multiple pairs of wings the priests proudly sported acted as mana-receiving antennas. Grace was just ordinary magic borrowed from the pigeon's vast mana pool, slapped with a fancy name.
Fighting this pigeon was like battling all heavenly beings and priests combined.
“That shit doesn't work on me, you pigeon-headed fuck.”
Total pigeon shit. If grace had been truly divine power, it might've been dangerous. But since it was just glorified basic magic, it meant jack against my comprehensive magic resistance.
The flames licking me now burned at insane temperatures, but they lacked the punch to incinerate me completely.
-Crackle!
I dove into the pigeon's embrace, leaped powerfully, and thrust my spear at its lower jaw. It wrapped itself in feathered wings, reared up, and flapped backward with a frantic whoosh-whoosh.
Beast through and through—its reactions were brutally honest. Which meant the next attack was predictable: one of its three heads would snap forward, beak aimed to smash me.
I slid forward to dodge, then drew my axe and swung.
-Rip!
The blade grazed a wing, sending feathers flying. And those feathers shot back at me like projectiles.
This thing does everything.
I rolled left to evade.
-Boom! Kra-boom!
The filthy feathers stabbed into the ground like darts, rigid and humming with eerie mana. Every attack was mana-infused. In that way, it was somewhat like the demons on floor 14.
I could do the same, but with my intelligence stat gutted right now, it was tricky. Tricky, not impossible.
I pulled a few consumable throwing surikens from my inventory—stuff from floor 10, nothing special compared to iron marbles, so I rarely used them. I hurled them, mana-charged, at the barrage of incoming feathers.
My throwing skill, honed beyond compare, let me snipe each feather mid-flight.
-Clang! Clang-clang!
Intercepting every one, I closed the gap again. Then, two pigeon heads stirred.
-■■■■.
Its gaping beak unleashed a sound beyond words. I got the gist.
The ambient mana rippled and shifted properties. Multi-magic deployment, like the demons on 14. Having learned fire didn't faze me, it unleashed a storm of every other element.
Whatever—fire was my best resistance, but the others weren't slacking either.
-Boom! Kaboom! Kra-boom!
With Mana Reinforcement's defenses plus activating Iron Wall, I just pushed forward. Even without resistances, it'd be fine. Iron Wall's support, All-Out for defense amp, Mana Reinforcement extras, and that cheat trait Steel Heart cutting all damage by 60%.
I'd called it pigeon shit internally, but objectively, this thing wasn't weak. Superior to the two-headed 15th-floor boss in base specs, with multi-element magic, feather-based ranged physicals, speed, and constant mental pollution mimicking system interfaces.
Far from shit—it was a fucking powerhouse. And I had to fight with stat penalties. That's why the community deemed it 'unconquerable.'
But in Tower #2661, with me as the only challenger, what did 'objective' even mean? Average player levels, monster averages, community consensus—fuck that noise.
By my judgment, this pigeon was total shit.
I bulldozed through the magic onslaught, activated Haste, and closed in instantly. No escape this time. This filthy nest was cramped; nowhere left to retreat.
It could've exploited my air-combat weakness with one-sided ranged spam, but hunkered down like a coward, refusing to spread its wings? Useless.
Looked like a city pigeon too scared to fly after one too many beatings.
-Crunch!
Leaping with Sword Charge, I impaled one head clean through.
The pierced head flopped lifeless, but I stayed vigilant. No way it had three heads for show; each probably a phase.
Leaving the stunned pigeon, I grabbed the High Priest by the collar from his denial corner.
“Hey, snap out of it. You've got a real important job now. Drink this potion.”
“Ugh, let go... this impure earthly drug...”
“Still spouting that after seeing that? Shut up and drink, asshole!”
I jammed the potion bottle into his mouth, force-fed him HP and MP recovery, then hauled him up.
“Listen up: heaven's already this pigeon's nest. Kill it, and it collapses—and I'm killing it.”
“If you lot sit around, you'll crash with heaven and die. Outsiders won't even know what hit 'em—how many can actually fly and survive?”
As I spoke, the downed pigeon slowly rose. Phase 2.
“Heaven's done. You're living on earth now. You go explain it.”
“B-but... how can such cruelty...”
“Cruelty my ass. Do you even know earth? I know one heavenly who got a taste of water and...”
It took less than a week for Angela to fall, hooked on tteokbokki, fried stuff, and blood sausage. I was sure: once these sheltered types tasted the wild side, they'd never go back. Heavenly beings, denying all stimulation? Fragile weaklings at heart.
“Bet you: one month on earth, and you'll say half your life's been wasted up here.”
The phase-2 pigeon spewed mana, shaking ceiling and floor. I shoved the High Priest outward and grabbed my weapons again.
“Earth's about to get lit.”
Pure, worldly-naive, stimulation-weak pretty boys and girls migrating en masse? Game on.