Ch 93
92 – Enlightenment.
The big guy wondered what kind of crazy people were there.
It was because he reached out his arms when he went up to the altar.
He got up to try and tear him apart, but he couldn’t move forward.
His brother’s trembling hand, holding him tightly, did not let him go.
“Fuck.”
Thousands of fires boiled inside me, thinking that my crazy little brother might die because of the madman.
But that anger was short-lived.
“······ah.”
[I will check.]
Quang.
The madman has proven his convictions.
[I will check.]
Quang. Quang. Quang.
Not once, but dozens of times.
He surrendered himself to the hand of the chest god that struck him as if he were striking hardened iron.
The more he did, the more his body seemed to shine.
Its appearance, even noble, seemed to become a mirror, revealing the ugliness deep within her heart.
[Confirmed.]
The body of the evil spirit shattered.
[You have cleared the ordeal.]
A message pops up as if it’s not a lie.
[The passage to the 25th floor opens.]
[The passage to the 20th floor opens.]
Two portals appeared in the place where the evil spirit was.
“Cool.”
The madman, no, the young man knelt down and vomited blood as soon as the message appeared.
My body rushed forward without realizing it.
“Are you okay?”
“yes.”
Looking at it up close, it was definitely a young-looking impression.
He looked to be in his mid-20s, at least 10 years younger than him.
When I thought that such a young man had endured the ordeal of the evil spirit without fear, I got goosebumps on my back.
“What the hell is this…”
When the relief of surviving and the awe of the man mixed, I was choked up and couldn’t come out.
“Let’s go first.”
As if that was a good thing, the young man raised his trembling legs and turned to the portal.
One of the straps of the backpack on his back was torn, and he looked very pitiful.
“no. Hey!”
The man did not turn his back or stop his feet.
70th floor.
Chaerin Lee continued to talk to the manager.
“excuse me?”
“Manager?”
“Do you want to talk to me now?”
“Can you answer me?”
I talked to him so many times, but there was no response after he started crying.
I just kept my mouth shut and stared into the air.
After an hour or two, there was no response, so exhausted Chaerin Lee finally got up.
“I’m going to go down to the 50th floor and play punk.”
“What do you mean?”
Then the manager’s mouth was opened.
“Wow. He’s been quiet so far, but look at how he reacts to his temper.”
The manager tilted his head in response to Lee Chae-rin’s excitement.
“Have you been quiet yet?”
“yes. Now tell me-”
hold on hold on hold on hold on hold on
It wasn’t a laugh.
A ferocious energy poured out of his bizarrely distorted lips.
As the surrounding landscape became distorted, Lee Chae-rin hurriedly put on the mana mak and shouted.
“Why all of a sudden?”
“I made a mistake.”
“yes?”
“See you next time.”
The manager disappeared like smoke, leaving only those words.
“······what.”
Lee Chae-rin let out a dazed voice and looked at the empty bench.
Then, while reflecting on the manager’s words, she noticed something strange.
“Did you make a mistake?”
Lee Chae-rin hurriedly turned on the system window and found the broadcast.
‘Certainly, Jaejoo Kim.’
There is only one following broadcasting window.
it was off
Jaejoo Kim thought he had gotten used to the sense of crossing portals.
At first, the feeling of having a throbbing headache, a slight feeling of motion sickness.
‘no.’
I thought that such a sensation would come when I entered the portal to the 25th floor, but it wasn’t.
A feeling of disgust, boiling from within, attacked my whole body.
The ominous premonition became a reality when I opened my eyes.
A forest shining in the sunlight.
Even the spirits who gently sit on the petals and sing songs.
There were no watchmen aiming the spear with a solemn expression.
This was not a forest of spirits.
The earth dried up and twisted and cracked.
In the flowing purple river, little monsters were poking their heads.
Plants with teeth were drooling.
‘here is···.’
I didn’t know what was in the distance.
Because the black mist was blurring all of that.
But Jaejoo Kim knew.
‘devildom.’
A place that sank beneath the world of Astrod to avoid the sun.
A place where those who kill the gods and call themselves evil gods gather.
The demon world unfolded in front of Jaejoo Kim.
‘why?’
It was confusing.
Even if the manager played with the ordeal, the location never changed.
As it was on the 5th floor, and as it was on the 15th floor.
I looked at the chat window in frustration, but the chat window stopped as if it was broken.
Even if I clicked the community window just in case, there was no response when I clicked the reward notification window.
“················ogue.”
Kiye!
The monster drinking from the river noticed Jae-Joo Kim and uttered a threatening sound, then turned his back and disappeared.
I dragged one foot back to the fortress, and the dry soil crumbled.
It was too vivid a sense to think of as a dream.
The weight of the backpack he was carrying with one hand weighed on Jaejoo Kim.
[Are you here?]
It was then.
A hologram window appeared in front of Jaejoo Kim’s eyes.
“···who are you?”
[If you want to know.]
The black mist split like a pavement.
Jaejoo Kim followed the path without hesitation.
Being here wasn’t going to solve anything.
‘I have to go.’
The other party was not the manager.
When asked who it was, the manager would have appeared at once.
saah.
A stinging wind blew through the mist, and the screams of monsters resounded like echoes.
As I walked, the fog gradually erased the traces and disappeared.
Finally, at the end of the clearly visible landscape, an old castle was seen.
It was such a castle that there were no castle towers, watchtowers, or walls in preparation for invasion.
Kim Jae-joo’s steps accelerated.
As I entered the castle without a coat on, I saw a long hall.
“Are you here?”
At the end of it, Migong was seen sitting on a splendid chair.
He was a man with gray skin and languid eyes.
“···manager?”
“No way. I thought you’d guess.”
As soon as he saw Jaejoo Kim, his eyes started to twinkle.
“I do not know.”
“is it. Sorry. I put a lot of effort into calling it out, but you don’t know me.”
The man shrugged and stood up.
“My name is Capnile. You can think of it as being equivalent to the Grand Duke of the Demon Realm. It’s not like I can’t understand even this kind of talk.”
“················ogue.”
knew
It was the first time I met him as a human, so I just didn’t recognize him.
Kim Jae-joo, who prepared dozens of his weaknesses and attack methods, could not have known him.
“Why do you have to be on the 99th floor?”
Because Kafnil was the last gatekeeper to block users on the 99th floor and the worst monster.
Kim Jae-joo couldn’t understand that such a monster called himself out of nowhere.
“Oh, that’s not real.”
“You sound like you’re telling the truth.”
“Don’t be an idiot.”
“There is no time for this.”
“ha ha ha!”
Kafnil burst out laughing as if he had heard something really funny.
“What time? Time to play with the manager?”
“················ogue.”
“this. I’m sorry. It’s because I’m very playful.”
“Why did you call me?”
“I wanted to talk. I want to know what kind of person that idiot cares so much. It would be better if you listen to my request as well.”
He couldn’t help but pay more attention to what he had just said than the sparks that Capnil caused when his thumb and forefinger collided.
“Are you sure that stupid person is talking about the manager?”
“okay. I’m probably looking around for you by now. Still, you can buy a little time.”
Jaejoo Kim sighed at the increasingly confusing conversation.
“Wait. You’re talking as if it’s safe here.”
“It’s safe.”
“Isn’t this also part of the tower after all?”
“no. This is your own space. Even managers can’t easily touch it.”
The corners of Capnil’s lips rose.
“Do you want to know why?”
“no. I just want you to send me to the 25th floor.”
“What! You know this kind of opportunity is common, but it would have been really difficult to find a gap if the manager hadn’t pulled out the guide from the 23rd floor!”
“…Is it because of you that the 24th floor changed?”
“okay. Managers don’t use such lofty methods. Now, have my sincerity been conveyed?”
“I am not interested.”
Jaejoo Kim held his backpack firmly and looked at Capnil.
“Aha, now I understand why you are so impatient.”
Kafnil’s gaze turned to the backpack that Jaejoo Kim was carrying.
His eyes shone brightly.
“Is it because of the spirit of the World Tree?”
“It has nothing to do with you.”
“Such. I feel it. dying.”
Kim Jae-joo let out a long breath to calm his beating heart.
“I am an ordinary human being. Please just let me go.”
“The spirits. If there is a way to save it.”
“Will you listen to me?”
Jaejoo Kim did not speak for a while, then slowly lowered the backpack and opened the cover to take out the popoes.
The popois on his palm now looked like dots from a distance.
“If you save me first, I can do it.”
At Kim Jae-joo’s unhesitating reply, Kafnil laughed.
“The deal is done.”
“What are you going to do?”
Jaejoo Kim asked quickly.
“What are you talking about?”
At Kafnil’s answer that he did not understand English, Jaejoo Kim put a blank expression on his face.
“I’m sure you’ll save me…”
“I said there was a way to save him.”
“Aren’t you doing it yourself?”
“okay. Now you have asked the right question. It’s not how I do it, it’s what you have to do.”
Kafnil was talking as if Jaejoo Kim had the right answer.
But if there was such a method, Jaejoo Kim would have tried it earlier.
“You look like you don’t know.”
“···yes.”
“Come on, let’s go back to the memories.”
“Time to do these riddles-”
It was an instant.
Kafnil, who came all the way to his nose, tapped Jaejoo Kim’s forehead with his finger.
Kim Jae-joo’s consciousness was sucked inward and into himself.
Memories of passing the ordeal on the 5th floor pass by,
Through the 10th floor, from the 15th floor to the 20th floor.
All the time I spent in the tower passed like a lantern.
Kim Jae-joo, who regained consciousness, let out an empty breath.
Her wide-eyed eyes turned to Kafnil in disbelief.
“Do you know?”
“But, is it really possible…”
His gaze slowly turned to the Popois on the palms of his hands.
“Believe in you. Life circulates, and if something is received, something must be returned.”
Jaejoo Kim sighed at the unfamiliar words, then closed his eyes.
And then I remembered.
On the 15th floor, he almost died, and how he survived.
‘Certainly, the Popois…’
Although I couldn’t see it myself, the viewers all agreed and said the same thing.
Popois said he saved himself.
Popois that absorb the energy of the sun and shine.
‘Can I do it?’
Jaejoo Kim concentrated his whole mind on his beating heart.
It pierced the heart by moving the magical powers circling through her body.
‘in action.’
However, there was no reaction.
The magic of the sun in his heart disregarded his will, and the existing magic was scattered and blown away.
‘please.’
A cold sweat started to flow from Jaejoo’s body.
Ignoring it, he raised his magic power again.
Now, a handful of magic power left his body and headed towards his heart.
‘Move!’
The result was the same.
The blue magic started to scatter again, and Jaejoo Kim gripped his teeth and grabbed the magic that escaped.
“Cool.”
A handful of blood poured out of Jaejoo’s mouth.
It’s because of the reversed magic.
‘again.’
When I sent the forcefully captured magical power to my heart, the pain that ripped from my flesh took over my whole body.
Despite the magic that was sent through enduring the pain, the magic of the sun did not budge.
It’s like you’re still not good enough to deal with me.
‘···in action. please please. please!’
In his earnest heart, which gave strength to his trembling legs, and sent magical energy as if squeezing it.
Finally, something started to respond.
easy profit.
It was a snake with a cord in its heart.
A cool sensation ran through his body.
The snake turned around as if tightening the heart, and then it bit the heart.
pounding.
my heart started beating fast,
pounding. pounding. pounding.
It quickly became unstoppable.
“······ah.”
Jaejoo Kim realized it only then.
The magic of the sun was the magic that moved according to one’s emotions.
“Successful.”
Jaejoo Kim opened his eyes closed in pain at the faint sound of his voice.
He didn’t even think to turn his head to Kafnil.
“················ogue.”
Because his heart was shining brightly.
Suddenly, the pain disappeared as if washed away, and the magic of the sun began to flow from the heart.
‘in action.’
The magical energy of the sun, which was like an adolescent boy, flowed down his arms like a gentle sheep.
The magic of the sun, which passed through his arms and reached his hands, showed off a bright light.
It was moved to Popois, which was placed in the hands of Jaejoo Kim.
Pure white light dyed his palms as if exploding.
‘please.’
Soon the light fades away.
In the palm of Jaejoo Kim.
“…Popoi?”
A familiar sound was heard.