Sungchul and the aged lich stood before an entrance without a door. Beyond the entrance, a dimly lit space and walls could be seen.
Akun Gandharva cast another barrier that made them invisible, after asking for Sungchul’s permission.
Within this double layer of protection, Sungchul moved forward silently.
Beyond the entrance was a small terrace-like space with an old railing.
To the naked eye, the structure seemed ordinary, but Sungchul’s Soul Contract Eye of Truth detected high-level illusion magic cast over the entire terrace.
It was likely a device designed to prevent the outside from finding this place.
Nevertheless, the fact that Akun Gandharva cast multilayer barriers to hide their whereabouts only went on to show just how cautious of a character he was.
Sungchul advanced onto the terrace, examining the area in front and above. The front was a brick wall, and above was made of solid rock.
The main attraction could be seen below.
“What…?”
Sungchul immediately doubted his eyes the moment he looked below.
Beneath his feet, a vast array of equipment illuminated the darkness, their fiery operation casting an eerie glow.
It looked less like a factory and more akin to a weapons depot.
Yet, amidst it all, one object was more conspicuous than all the rest.
A colossal heart, resembling that of a human but crafted from metal and crystal, stood majestically at the center of the space, its overwhelming presence dominating the surroundings.
Pipes and hoses stretched across the walls, connecting to the giant heart, supplying it with energy.
“What is that?”
Sungchul asked.
“That is the Heart of the Ancient God.”
“The Heart of the Ancient God?”
The Ancient God is one of the five major gods of this world, placed alongside the gods of order and neutrality whom humanity worships.
Sungchul thought to himself,
‘It can’t really be the heart of an Ancient God. It must be a name given for something with a power worthy of a god’s name.’
However, his predictions had spectacularly missed the mark.
“This is quite literally the heart of the Ancient God.”
Akun Gandharva spoke with pride in his voice.
“Why is the heart of an Ancient God in such a place?”
“Well, I don’t really know why the heart of an Ancient God is here either.”
Akun Gandharva let out a sinister laugh, leaving a lingering feeling before speaking again.
“It’s a matter of sequence. The city of La Grange was deliberately built over the heart of the Ancient God.”
The shocking truth about the city of La Grange flowed nonchalantly from the lips of the aged lich.
Sungchul felt his mind go white and numb with so many shocking revelations one after another in short succession.
‘Is there anything I understood properly at all?’
Being the foremost person confronting the Calamities, Sungchul had thought himself closest to the so-called ‘truth’ that humans of the present were oblivious to.
Indeed, there were many beings he had encountered that were the stuff of legends or myths.
After all, with his own eyes he had even personally beheld the sight of the foremost Principle god of this world, the God of Order.
Yet, Sungchul’s understanding of the world was being shattered into pieces in the underground of La Grange.
“…Is this also something Kromgard arranged?”
Sungchul steadied his emotions and managed to maintain a calm tone.
“Yes. He saw the heart of the Ancient God as the only means to dismantle the distorted order of this world. It is because the heart of the Ancient God possesses unfathomable powers capable of such feats.”
Sungchul stared down at the massive heart beneath the railing.
A heart that did not beat.
Apart from its enormous size, Sungchul could feel no other power emanating from it.
Though it was possible that he might see something if he got closer, his transcendental senses did not react to this heart for now.
“What did your lord plan to do with the Ancient God’s heart?”
At Sungchul’s question, the lich shook his head.
“I am but a humble servant; such knowledge is beyond my station. All I know is that the heart of the Ancient God has passed into the Emperor’s hands, and the Emperor plans to use it for something.”
Around the Heart of the Ancient God, there was an immense presence of guards.
Imperial officers and knights filled the area, while mages bustled about, engaged in all sort of operation around the Heart.
“…”
Sungchul silently watched their activities from the terrace for a while.
Soon, a booming voice came from below.
“Initiate the trial run!”
“We are initiating the trial run!”
“Everyone, brace for impact.”
The workers began to move about rapidly.
The knights guarding the area also put quite a distance between them and the heart.
Something was about to happen.
Sungchul watched anxiously from above.
Through the pipes and hoses connected to it, a black form of energy was being supplied to the heart.
“Begin the operation!”
Soon, the colossal heart beat once.
Thump.
Sungchul’s vision momentarily darkened and blurred.
It was a strange experience. It felt as though another entity’s heart was beating, but it caused his own heart to respond in kind.
‘What in the world…’
In the midst of shock, the Transcendent Senses revealed to him a vision.
It was of some gigantic dying figure lying prostrate, with two figures standing behind it like ghosts.
One of them spoke.
[Foolish Aleiokgos[MK1] . You have been ensnared by sweet temptation and found yourself in ruins. Let me tell you something. Your friend has abandoned you and your follower, fleeing to the side of a dead god.]
It was a voice holy and indescribable, as if a million bells were ringing in unison inside his head.
The dying colossus began to crumble slowly.
In its final moments, it mustered all its remaining strength to punch a hole in the wall of the Transcendent World, hurling the last of its debris into the realm of humans.
The last remnants, blazing like a comet across the sky, fell into a primeval forest where no one lived.
Eons, passed since then.
The spot where the debris had buried itself was now covered with soil brought by the wind, and trees had taken root and borne fruit upon it. Countless fruits ripened and fell, thousands of times.
A man appeared in the uninhabited primeval forest. He dug through the soil layered with dead fruit and fallen leaves until he unearthed the sky-fallen debris once more, exposing it to the world once more.
The man who Sungchul did not recognize smiled upon unearthing the debris.
It was a smile soaked in a bone chillling cruel delight.
This was the end of the vision from the Transcendent Senses.
‘Is this the story of how this heart of the Ancient God came to be?’
As Sungchul regained his senses, he finally noticed a grotesque Lich was thrusting its hideous face before him.
“What the fuck! Shit.”
Sungchul stepped back, spitting out a curse.
Akun Gandharva bowed his head in apology.
“Ah, my apologies. You hadn’t said anything for a while.”
“…Lead me to the exit.”
Thanks to that slight bit of shock shock, Sungchul was able to gather his thoughts.
What he needed now was not reflection or conjecture.
It was confirmation.
He needed to meet the Emperor right away to question him.
If he doesn’t, then Sungchul might lose himself in the echo chamber of doubts and questions reverberating in his heart.
However, Akun Gandharva’s steps were far too slow.
Sungchul thought he had grown accustomed to it, but the undead’s sluggish pace only intensified his frustration.
“Hey, Lich. Is the way to Sector 1 the path where that light was shining earlier?”
Unable to hold back, Sungchul asked.
“That is correct.”
Akun Gandharva’s eyes sparkled as he nodded.
“Thanks for the guidance. I’ll go on my own from here.”
Finally overtaking Akun Gandharva, Sungchul moved ahead. His light steps soon exploded into a full-on dash, moving him like a powerful gust of wind towards the exit.
The darkness lifted, revealing a view previously obstructed by oppressive walls. The bright outside world came into view before him.
A sticky rain fell on the ashen landscape.
Everywhere, there were bizarre and twisted statues that had not been seen before.
A pervasive aura of heresy wafted from all over.
The Transcendent Senses filled Sungchul with an overwhelming feeling of nausea and revulsion.
Amidst the revolting sight, Sungchul saw the massive floating island above him.
The Floating Palace.
The Emperor would be there.
Sungchul silently made his way towards the palace.
No one seemed to notice his arrival.
Save for one persistently tailing him.
“…”
In the gap between reality and the Transcendent World.
There, a woman clutched her chest that felt like it might burst as she held her breath while following him.
Soojin Lee. Also known as Ahmuge.
She had been watching everything.
Meanwhile, she was doubting everything. Of the very events of the past she had experienced.
A destined, hopeless future.
Gifted with a natural talent for covert operations, she was sent as a spy to the gold city occupied by the Enemy of the World, on behalf of the imperial guild.
She remembered the appearance of the Enemy of the World at that time.
He was a huge figure covered in muscles, with a shadow over his face that never lifted.
At that time, the Enemy of the World had not fully transformed into a complete black giant, and some semblance of personality remained.
This is why he was still able to take time to enjoy partaking in the game of games of blood and slaughter instead of indiscriminately killing and destroying everything on sight as he would later be known to do.
By the time she arrived in the golden city, there was not a single person left. Only a few spiritless undead roamed the city, looking for the flesh of the whatever humans remains were left.
This was the work of one of the seven weapons of Calamities. The cursed plague of undeath, Shiculea[MK1] .
Soojin dodged the undead sniffing the air for her scent and searched for the traces of the people in the city.
Tracking the footsteps of tens of thousands of people was not a difficult task. The trail left by the long procession, along with a few decaying corpses, stretched southward.
Their destination was the Summoning Plaza. Upon arriving at the Summoning Plaza, she witnessed a scene so horrifying that it was hard to believe even with her own eyes.
The Enemy of the World sat upon a throne, exacting revenge for the deadly trials he had once endured, repaying them to the residents of this world, especially to the administrators of the Summoning Plaza.
The four squares, named Azure, Crimson, Blanche, and Scarlet, were already covered with mountains of corpses and overflowing blood.
And it was not just the Plazas.
The walls surrounding the Summoning Plaza were adorned with those who defied his will, impaled alive on spikes and bound with the chains of another weapon of Calamity, Agony, trapped helplessly between life and death.
Monstrous birds from the Demon Realm roamed the skies above the plaza, then settled on the walls to tear at the still-living bodies, still writhing and unable to die.
It was an absolute manifestation of hell, of never-ending cycles of pain and suffering.
Seated upon his throne, the Enemy of the World, Sungchul, poured wine into a goblet made from a skull that still had flesh. And with a voice like thunder, he addressed the plaza echoing with the screams of those who were unable to die.
“Do not resent me. All is the result of your collective sins and wrongdoing.”
Sungchul spoke again.
“I am merely a tool to punish you on behalf of the gods.”
Someone hastily escaped from the scene.
When she heard that no one had survived the Summoning Plaza, she simply accepted it without question.
After all, that man, the Enemy of the World, was already too far gone in his corruption and irredeemable manifestation of pure evil.
Later, when the great Calamity of La Grange took place that later came to be known as the beginning of the end of the world in earnest, she also accepted without question that it must have been by Sungchul’s actions.
“It’s Sungchul’s doing.”
The main forces fighting against the black Colossus unanimously declared.
All things leading to the end were Sungchul’s doing alone.
Having lost everything to Sungchul’s hands, she gradually accepted this as an absolute truth without a hint of doubt in her mind.
Eliminating Sungchul alone would singlehandedly save the world from destruction.
However, as hidden truths gradually came to light, the Ahmuge finally began to piece together what it was that fate had in store for her.
It was about making a choice.
In the midst of indecision, she had to find the one path that would save her and the world.
It’s no easy task.
The world is rife with deceit and deception.
Now, the entity that destroyed her world descended into the Garden of the Floating Palace.
There, a guest was waiting for Sungchul.
It was a general from the Emperor’s faction, whom Ahmuge only vaguely remembered by his face.
“This is unexpected. We were waiting for someone else, not you.”
The general and Sungchul seemed to know each other.
Sungchul replied.
“Step aside, Doron. I have only come to speak with the Emperor.”
“I can’t do that.”
The unnamed general stood boldly, blocking Sungchul’s path.
“Even if it’s you, I won’t forgive you if you get in my way.”
Sungchul warned. The general was not at all afraid; instead, he even showed a relaxed smile.
“That’s my line, former Imperial Commander in Chief.”
The general drew his sword.
The next moment, both Sungchul and the general could hear it.
Thump.
The sound of the giant heart beating.
With the vision growing dark, a supernatural event took place.
The figure standing in Sungchul’s path suddenly transformed.
It morphed into a grotesque being, draped in armor composed solely of square plate metal, wearing four masks.
This figure closely resembled the profane statues scattered throughout the Capital City.
With his Transcendent Senses, Sungchul could see it more clearly.
[Immortal Kukumbus]
[Troimea’s Terrible Cook and Rapist]
[And the Exiled, so-called Evil God]
An Evil God had appeared.
But that wasn’t the main problem
Transcendental senses were telling Sungchul that the presence of this Evil God in the world was not due to someone’s sacrifice but due to environmental factors.
Thump. Thump.
The heart of an Ancient God, buried underground, continued to beat.
This beat was making an impossible and unforgivable sacrilegious heresy manifest upon the world.
A profane heresy beyond anyone’s imagination.
The boundary between reality and the transcendental world was becoming blurred.
However, no matter the reason, Sungchul could not be stopped.
Ahmuge watched with bated breath as Sungchul brandished not the black weapons of Calamities but his beloved silver colored hammer.
“…Come.”
God-like strength flowed through Sungchul’s body.
3 more chapters are out. Click Next Chap.
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