Chapter 191: Star, Baek Gyeo-Ul (1)
“How… can a god die…!” Czestochowa couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed.
A deity had died! If she were being honest, she despised ‘Big Sick Bug,’ her Guardian. He showed no consideration for her and even tried to change his apostle every now and then, so she really couldn’t respect him. Nevertheless, he was still her Guardian. On top of that, Czestochowa and the ‘Big Sick Bug’ both played dirty, and he was the one who gave her the power to become the Killer Overlord. Czestochowa thought very highly of him.
She thought of her Guardian as a wall that she could never climb over, someone whose league she could never reach… So how could he get defeated that easily? Czestochowa was a level 90 player, the highest level that humans could reach. That was why she naturally knew Chang-Sun had used his mind palace to take out the ‘Big Sick Bug.’
In one’s mind palace, one could use their power to the fullest as if they became a Creator Celestial, but it was really difficult to believe that a mortal had enough willpower to sustain their mind palace and subdue a Celestial…!
「Whether you believe it or not does not matter. All that does are the facts,」Jin said as he put his greatsword against Czestochowa’s neck, making her tense up. The cold wind that had put her in danger several times started to blow again. She thought about pushing his greatsword away and doing something about the wind, but she couldn’t bring herself to move for some reason.
[You have lost your Guardian.]
…
The messages that popped up before her deepened her despair.
[You have lost your Guardian’s protection.]
[You have lost your Guardian’s blessings.]
…
[You have lost your Authorities.]
…
She quickly weakened. Like a cracked pot spilling out water, her mana leaked out from her body.
[Your Skills’ damage has decreased.]
[Your stat points have decreased.]
…
“A-ahhh…!” Czestochowa belatedly realized that she no longer had the strength to move as she wanted.
Although she wanted to deflect Jin’s [Frost King’s Greatsword], which was pressing against her neck, she couldn’t move her arms at all. She tried to move backward, but her legs entangled with each other, causing her to fall to the ground. However, at that moment, she could feel Jin’s [Frost King’s Greatsword] narrowly swinging above her head.
The only reason she had managed to avoid Jin’s attack was luck, not skills. She was so surprised at how severely she weakened that she collapsed on her own and ended up dodging his attack in the process. Jin dumbfoundedly looked down at her and chuckled for a moment.
“Argghhhh!” Czestochowa couldn’t afford to pay attention to Jin’s reaction. She was far too busy screaming.
She looked down, terrified, when she felt her legs being unusually wobbly. They used to be as muscular as a horse’s, but they were now as scrawny as flat balloons. Her hands, which she had been taking such good care of that they had become too pretty to think of as an assassin’s, were now wrinkled and had age spots. It was as if she had aged dozens of years in an instant.
Clank, crack!
At that moment, the [Doggaebi Face] on her face dropped, shattering like a glass cup. She unwittingly brought her hands against her face in response, only to become more terrified. Against, her palms, she could feel wrinkles.
“Ahhhhh!!!” Czestochowa screamed.
All this time, she had been delaying her aging process using her mana, but all those delays had now caught up to her. Her skin sagged, her muscles atrophied, and her bones weakened. She was now an old woman—no, she was in a worse state than ordinary elderlies. Having spent her entire life staying powerful and young, reigning over countless people, she found it really hard to accept her current situation.
「… How lame. I thought you were quite a skilled ‘king,’ but you’re not king material at all.」
Jin lightly clicked his tongue as he looked at Czestochowa in disappointment. Of all the opponents he had encountered outside the Changgwi Cave, she had been the most worthy. Her being classified as a ‘King-Class’ Player in the civilization called Earth only gave him more reasons to be disappointed.
Still, he had often seen cases like Czestochowa in Arcadia too. Only relying on their power, they acted arrogant only to end up losing everything and falling into despair. How they responded to such moments usually revealed their true calibers.
They commonly reacted in two ways. Some became depressed for some time but eventually accepted reality and tried to improve themselves. On the other hand, some became completely broken. The former often became stronger than they used to be, while the latter usually reached rock bottom.
Slash!
Splash―!
Jin neatly cut off Czestochowa’s head so she wouldn’t have to be in any more despair. Although he didn’t like her, he could show this much mercy as a warrior.
Thump!
Czestochowa’s headless corpse powerlessly collapsed.
[The temporarily restored divine ground has been resealed.]
Pzzz―!
After the fight ended, a message popped up. The ‘Twilight-Setting Battlefield’ started to disappear, revealing the inside of Surtr’s heart and its red walls once again.
[Channelings have been restored.]
[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ has reentered.]
[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ has reentered.]
…
[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ closely observes you to see if her apostle candidate got hurt.]
[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ wonders how the fight ended.]
[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ yells at you, ordering you to explain what in the world is going on!]
…
[The Celestial ‘Taurus’ narrows his eyes.]
…
[The Celestial ‘Primordial Evil Dragon’ looks at you with mixed emotions.]
…
[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ is surprised, having realized that one of the Celestials from the <Society> he is a part of is missing.]
…
[The Society <Purple Star Astrology> has fallen into chaos after realizing the ‘Tranquill Star’ has disappeared.]
[The Society <Horoscope> looks at a certain Celestial, hoping to hear an answer to their question but fails to receive one. ]
…
[The <Management Bureau> has begun examining the status of Channeling after receiving multiple inquiries.]
Mayhem seemed to have devoured all the places soon after the Celestials’ Channelings were restored. Just as Chang-Sun, who had acquired Giant abilities, and Czestochowa had been about to clash, the Channelings had gotten disconnected due to an unknown reason. By the time they were reconnected, the fight had already come to an end, and Xue Yong had gone missing, turning <Heaven> upside down.
Some of the Celestials remained silent, reading the energy of death subtly flowing in the veins of Surtr’s heart.
‘They have no idea what happened, so they’re probably frustrated as hell,’ Chang-Sun assumed.
Of course, Chang-Sun had no intention of satisfying their curiosity. They would never be able to believe that Chang-Sun, a mortal, managed to kill a Celestial.
‘If they think level-headedly, they’ll suspect me… but they wouldn’t be a Celestial if they were capable of making a rational judgment.’?Chang-Sun faintly smirked.
He knew the Celestials quite well. In contrast to what mortals thought, Celestials were far from being rational. After all, the only things they cared about were increasing their Faith and developing their divine essence. For a very long time now, they had been living as absolute beings, so they believed death did not apply to them.
Just as how a human didn’t think an ant could beat them, Celestials never thought insect-like humans were capable of killing Celestials, and that was common knowledge. Of course, some would likely doubt or be on alert around him.
[The Celestial ‘Tsunami Bringer’ is showing deep interest in you.]
[The Celestial ‘Antlered Animal King’ is showing deep interest in you.]
[The Celestial ‘Aquarius’ desperately wants you.]
…
However, there would also be more Celestials who would covet Chang-Sun. The more chaotic <Heaven> became, the better it was for Chang-Sun.
‘Neptune, Cernunnos, and Sadalmelik?’?Chang-Sun observed.
[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ laughs slyly!]
Smiling like his teacher, Chang-Sun fixed his grip on his weapons. Now that he was done with his business in this place, it was time to return to the outside world. However, something was bugging him.
[Still selecting a new class. Please wait for a moment.]
…
[Selecting.]
…
‘Why is it taking so long? What class is the system trying to give me?’?Chang-Sun’s eyes narrowed.
Perhaps because the four achievements that Chang-Sun had accomplished to acquire his second class were too great to be considered as a <Fable>, it seemed it would take quite a while for Chang-Sun to acquire a new class.
‘I need to have a second class to level up past 50,’?Chang-Sun thought.
Although he couldn’t find out for certain right now, he was certain that he had been accumulating a lot of experience points. Considering his disadvantage of not having a Guardian, Chang-Sun’s level would increase by at least 20. Wanting to get his second class and his level to increase significantly, he paid all attention to the messages from the system. Just then…
[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ wishes to give you a gift as your teacher to congratulate you on getting your second class!]
‘Gift?’ Chang-Sun’s eyes widened a little upon seeing the unexpected message.
* * *
“You all know why I asked you to gather here today, don’t you?” Jarpagu asked, catching the attention of everyone around the wide table.
Vampires, Beastfolks, Lycanthropes… people from all kinds of races were seated around the table. There were so many kinds of races that it would have been impossible to see them in the same gathering, but they all shared one common characteristic—their mana had a fire attribute.
[Fire energy has been accumulated.]
[The air of <Musepheim> is spreading.]
Moreover, their fire attribute was based on none other than the fire of <Muspelheim>, the plane that had met <Extinction>. Although they all looked different, they were also all fire elemental spirits in nature and were old <Muspelheim> remnants who had risen from Surtr’s corpse and now worked as the owners of the stores of the ‘Wuthering Stone Desert.’
“We thought it would never happen… but our new king has been born,” Jarapgu declared.
The store owners’ eyes gleamed in excitement, remembering the message that they had received several hours ago.
‘The new king of <Muspelheim> has been born.’
For the store owners, the last people of this old extinct plane, it was without a doubt the most significant event they had ever witnessed. Thinking they could finally put an end to their misery, their hope slowly grew.
“So the message was true,” Canola, the store owner of the second station, said with a trembling voice.
“That’s right.” Jarapgu nodded.
“Who’s the new king?” Canola asked.
“Lee Chang-Sun,” Jarpagu said.
“Lee Chang-Sun…?”
“Who’s that?”
“I don’t know.”
“Seriously, Earth people’s names are too similar, so I can’t tell.”
Upon hearing a name that they had never heard of, the store owners busily talked among themselves. Although they had met many talented people from Earth, they had never even heard of Lee Chang-Sun. Their attention naturally fell on Jarapgu again, thinking he would know something about Lee Chang-Sun since he was in charge of the path to the ‘Rhaegaren.’
However, Jarpagu just smacked his lips. “I only talked to him a couple of times, so I’m not sure who he is exactly either. But there’s one thing I can say for sure—he was truly something else.”
“How can you tell that from a few conversations?”
“That arrogant guy asked me to run a tab.” Jarapgu grinned.
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
Well aware of Jarpagu’s temper, all the store owners’ eyes widened. Some even quietly whistled. As the last people of the extinct plane, money was as valuable as lives, so running tabs meant the store owners were sticking their necks out. Of course, a mere Player wouldn’t know about the store owners’ culture, but the fact that Jarpagu let Lee Chang-Sun run a tab meant he successfully persuaded Jarapgu.
“Now, we have to choose whether or not we’ll acknowledge the new king and swear our loyalty,” Jarapgu said.
Falling into silence, the store owners tiptoed around each other. It wasn’t easy to say something regarding this matter. Although they agreed on needing a new leader to revive their race, the store owners belonged to different factions, so they had differences in how they were going to select a new leader. Crowning a new king meant giving up some of their rights, and it could even mean having to give up everything they had for the sake of reviving <Muspelheim>.
“I know you all have a lot on your mind since we’re all in different situations, so I have no intention to force you. The only reason why I requested this meeting is to hear your opinions, so feel free to speak up,” Jarapgu persuaded them, but no one volunteered still. They could be branded a criminal for high treason if they were to say something wrong.
At that moment, Elspe, the vampire sitting at the rearmost seat, raised his head, revealing his pale face and pointy fangs. Aside from Jarapgu, Elspe had the strongest voice among the store owners. “Can I ask your opinion, chairman?”
“I believe we should swear our loyalty. Regardless of my preference, we have only him to rely on now.” Jarapgu sighed.
“We don’t exactly have to swear our loyalty just because he ascended the throne.” Elspe shrugged.
After hearing Elspe’s answer, Jarapgu quietly chuckled. Elspe was the richest store owner and even had a connection to the <Management Bureau>, allowing him to accumulate a significant amount of assets in other planes. Elspe likely wasn’t pleased about the fact that he might have to hand over all his assets to somebody he had never even heard of.
‘He must have wanted to become the <Musepheim> king himself.’?Jarapgu assumed.
Everyone in this meeting knew that Elspe and the store owners he was close with had been preparing to conquer the ‘Rhaegaren,’ which was why Elspe was reacting defiantly.
“Yes, we don’t have to, but…” Jarapgu trailed off.
Jarapgu hated Elspe for biting off more than he could chew.
“Don’t we have to think about how long this Dungeon would last? If he’s capable of ascending the throne, then he’ll clear the Dungeon Quests in no time. Do you think you can do something about him until then?” Jarapgu asked sarcastically.
All the store owners clenched their teeth. If the Dungeon were to close, they would disappear with the Dungeon. None of them wished to die, so they were left with no other choice. Holding their breath, the store owners pondered whether or not they should acknowledge Chang-Sun as their king.
“No, we have another way,” Elspe abruptly said, catching every store owner’s attention.
“…?”
“…?”
Jarapgu looked at Elspe, silently signaling him to explain himself.
Elspe’s smile deepened as he said, “I heard there is a very nice culture on Earth called abdication of the throne.”
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
Realizing what Elspe meant, all the store owners’ eyes widened, and Jarpagu ended up unconsciously frowning. In contrast, Elspe’s smile just deepened and deepened. “We can kill him and take the throne away.”
1. He is a god depicted with antlers in ancient Celtic and Gallo-Roman religion. He often appears in Celtic religious drawings, but nothing is known about him.
2. It’s the name of the star in the constellation Aquarius.
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