Chapter 267: Seventy-First Floor, The Crimson Wilderness (5)

[Complete a contract. Time remaining: 87 hours 34 minutes.]

We raced through the tunnel at breakneck speed.

The damp, stale air beneath the earth carried a distinct musty odor that clung to my nose. The lingering scent of oil was scattered throughout the tunnel, along with patches of decayed, blackened soil.

As we rushed past the tunnel walls, earthworms and burrowing insects scurried away, desperately avoiding our approach.

At first, I was slightly concerned.

The monster—no, the divine beast—created this tunnel, so...

I naturally assumed the ground would be uneven, making it difficult to traverse at high speeds. However, to my surprise, the passage was remarkably well-formed. It wasn’t as smooth as an artificially constructed tunnel, but it didn’t contain any obstacles that would pose an issue for riding.

Only the sloped descent at the entrance was a bit tricky.

After that, we were able to pick up speed immediately.

Leading the way, Tunyak urged his strange bull forward, while Doppy and I followed close behind on the mechanical horse.

As we raced onward, Tunyak suddenly turned his head slightly to glance at me. “Just in case, let me make this clear. When we reach the divine beast, you’ll need to abandon that mechanical horse and ditch the revolvers at your waist.”

“

Huh?

Why?”

“They’re the very things that tainted the divine beast.”

I wasn’t entirely confident that was true.

However, according to Tunyak, the divine beasts had only become corrupted after the pioneers arrived. Considering that and the corrupted patches—the oil and rotting soil—the beast had left, though, there did seem to be some connection.

Since I had no reason to refuse, I simply nodded. “Alright.”

Tunyak blinked in mild surprise, as if he hadn’t expected me to relent so easily.

What is with that look?

After a moment of thought, I realized he probably assumed that I considered the mechanical horse and revolvers to be valuable possessions.

Seeing my lack of hesitation, he nodded slowly before turning his gaze forward once more. I couldn’t be entirely sure, but he seemed a little more cooperative now.

If this were a game, a notification would have popped up saying that Tunyak’s favorability had increased or something similar.

Although I do feel like I unintentionally deceived him.

Truth be told, I didn’t feel attached to either item. The mechanical horse couldn’t be taken into the waiting room anyway, so I had never planned on keeping it. As for the revolvers, I could simply store them in my mimic.

Even if I didn’t have Mung-chi, I probably would have hidden the weapons somewhere and returned to them just before the trial ended.

There was no need to spell that out for him, though.

I called out as we continued our pursuit, “By the way, do you have any idea how much farther we need to go?”

Tunyak shrugged. “Well, not exactly, but from what I know, corrupted divine beasts usually remain underground for about an hour and a half.”

“How do you know that?”

“You start to get a feel for it after chasing them for a while.”

“

Hmm

, hasn’t it been about that long since we started?”

“The divine beast is faster than us.”

“So does that mean we’ll never catch up at this rate?”

Tunyak shook his head while maintaining his gaze forward. “After a while, they surface to seek out water. A few water sources exist in the wasteland that they like to rest at. That’s usually our only chance to catch them.”

“Which means we have to find it before it moves on.”

“Exactly.”

As we talked, something suddenly occurred to me. “By the way, are you really able to take on the divine beast alone?”

Tunyak’s voice brimmed with confidence. “Of course. Some of us were chosen to wield the power of the gods.”

I already had an inkling of his strength, but it didn’t quite match my expectation of the seventy-first floor. The notion that he could subdue a corrupted divine beast with nothing but a bow and a short sword didn’t quite add up.

“That alone is enough?”

“Well, these arrows are coated in a powerful paralytic toxin. I take my time, gradually weakening the beast, and then grant it rest.”

I knew it.

Facing a beast head-on was obviously out of the question for someone as strong as him. He hadn’t explained it in detail, but he probably waited for the beast to be immobilized by the poisoned arrows, and then finished it off with the short sword strapped to his waist.

Considering that even someone of Tunyak’s caliber had to resort to such tactics, I could have struggled if I had attempted to take the beast down alone.

I decided to press further. “I have another question.”

“What is it?”

“You said corrupted divine beasts couldn’t be purified.”

“Yeah, that’s what I believed before meeting the Apostle.”

“But if you’ve been granting them rest, what happened to the divine beasts that were still with your people?”

Tunyak frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

I assumed they took care of the divine beasts like livestock, but is that not the case?

Before I could clarify, Tunyak continued, “We don’t keep divine beasts. We only worship the ones we encounter. How could we, mere mortals, dare to confine them?”

“I see.”

“In any case, their numbers have dwindled.”

Seeming to have caught the implication behind my question, he exhaled slightly before adding, “We’ve been driving them north to avoid encounters with the pioneers as much as possible, but—”

“You haven’t been able to protect all of them.”

Tunyak nodded grimly. “Right. Sometimes those pioneer assholes hunt them down, or they become corrupted while wandering the wasteland before that happens.”

“Hunt them down?”

“Yes, those bastards call them sacred creatures and hunt them.”

A realization struck me like a bolt of lightning—something I hadn’t considered due to my lack of information. If the pioneers had been capturing divine beasts, that meant they had figured out that the divine beasts and the corrupted monsters were one and the same.

Yet, the villagers I had spoken to only referred to them as monsters. Perhaps those in positions of power had deliberately withheld the information from the common people. Regardless, something about the whole situation didn’t sit right with me.

“What if the pioneers are the ones corrupting the divine beasts?”

“What?”

“Have you ever actually seen one become corrupted?”

Of course, this was just a theory.

Perhaps Tunyak had personally witnessed a divine beast transform into a corrupted monster. Even if that were the case, though, that didn’t rule out the possibility that the pioneers were actively causing the corruption.

Tunyak fell silent, deep in thought.

All the while, our mounts continued to race through the tunnel.

A long pause followed before he finally said, “No.”

“What about others? Has anyone told you they’ve seen it—”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Tunyak sharply interrupted, “No. No one has.”

He had answered firmly. A moment later, he raised a hand, signaling for us to slow down.

Wordlessly, I pulled back on the reins, reducing the speed of my mechanical horse.

Ahead of me, Tunyak came to a stop, turning to meet my gaze. “I think you may be right.”

“What? That the pioneers are corrupting the divine beasts?”

“Yes.” Tunyak looked to the ground, his expression clouded.

I remained silent, giving him time to process his thoughts.

After a brief moment, he swallowed hard. “The corrupted divine beasts... they’ve only ever emerged within pioneer-controlled lands. Mostly in the western and southern wastelands, especially the west.”

His eyes met mine, sharp from a sudden moment of realization. “We pursued them only after hearing rumors, moving to grant them rest. But not a single one of us has ever actually witnessed the moment of corruption. And not once has it happened in the north.”

“Then how did you know those monsters were once divine beasts?”

“The resemblance was unmistakable. Moreover, when they died, they reverted to their original form.”

“You’re telling me that, until now, no one even considered this possibility?”

“Divine beasts are sacred beings, a gift from God. The thought that mere humans could be responsible for their corruption was beyond comprehension.”

“But hasn’t the Forgotten God been gone for a long time?”

Tunyak nodded slowly before responding. “Perhaps our devotion blinded us to the truth. It kept us from questioning what should have been obvious.”

“I mean, it’s just a theory. I can’t say for certain.”

“I understand. But it’s logical, and that means it’s worth investigating.”

“Wait a minute. You said the corrupted divine beasts mostly appeared in the western and southern regions, right?”

“That’s right.”

I mulled it over—the western and southern wastelands. The West, in particular, was a hotspot for corruption.

If the pioneers are truly behind it, then...

Tunyak reached the same conclusion, and his eyes widened in alarm.

Meeting his gaze, I voiced the thought aloud, “There may be something hidden there.”

“You think they’re corrupting the divine beasts for a reason?”

“Exactly. Maybe they are trying to find something like a temple to the Forgotten God. It’s just speculation, but if they’re deliberately spreading corruption, there’s a strong chance it’s tied to the Forgotten God.”

This was an assumption based on the nature of the trial. Tunyak seemed to find merit in it, nodding as he processed the idea.

His expression darkened for a moment before he turned to me again, this time firmly resolved. “Listen, I have one more request.”

“What is it?”

“After we purify the divine beast, we need to uncover the truth behind this.”

I inwardly rejoiced and nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

This had all the hallmarks of a hidden mission, and even better than that, one that could extend to the seventy-second, maybe even the seventy-third floor.

The best part? It wouldn’t just give me bonus achievement points. Hidden missions connected to divine beings always yielded greater rewards. Some of my best artifacts, unique skills, and items that far surpassed what standard trials had to offer had come from hidden missions related to the divine.

Tunyak turned his ox, a determined look on his face. “We’d better get moving. We have a lot to do.”

“Sounds good.”

I pulled on the reins and urged the mechanical horse forward.

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has uncovered a hidden scheme unfolding within this world. His actions have diverged from the expected path.」

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s trial on the seventy-second floor will be replaced with the trial: The Forgotten God. 」

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s trial on the seventy-third floor will be replaced with the trial: The Furnace’s Conspiracy. 」

***

[Complete a contract. Time remaining: 87 hours 11 minutes.]

Just as Tunyak had anticipated, we soon reached the end of the tunnel.

A sloping path led up to the surface. We carefully ascended, only for the blistering heat of the wasteland to slam into us the moment we emerged.

The divine beast had surfaced on top of a hill, and the view from the hilltop stretched far into the distance. At the heart of the barren wasteland, an oasis-like pond called out invitingly at first glance. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to hold water.

It is pitch-black.

That was likely thanks to the corrupted divine beast, partially submerged in the pond, lying in repose with its head and tail resting just outside the pond.

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Its posture made it difficult to see clearly, but the head protruding above the surface bore a resemblance to the weird, horned beast Tunyak was riding.

Two antlers jutted from its forehead, similar to those of a stag, while its neck was long and sinuous, akin to that of a giraffe or a dragon. Its tail followed the same bizarre pattern.

If anything, it looked like a set of stag’s antlers had been fused onto a bull’s head, and then glued onto a dragon’s torso.

Tunyak turned to me. “You need to leave the mechanical horse and your firearms behind now.”

Though we strongly suspected that the pioneers were responsible for corrupting the divine beasts, he still wanted to eliminate any potential risks that could obstruct the purification process.

“Here should be fine, right?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded before dismounting. Lifting Doppy, I set him down before tying my horse’s reins securely.

Tunyak watched on with curiosity as I stowed my revolvers into the mimic. “That’s an intriguing artifact. I can’t sense any trace of metal or energy from it.”

“Well, it does have some divine properties.”

“Did the Apostle grant it to you?”

I shrugged, then responded ambiguously, “Something like that.”

Tunyak eyed me with barely concealed envy before finally dismounting from his strange ox. “Let’s move in quietly. It’s more likely to attack than run, but we can’t rule anything out.”

Nodding slightly, I kept my movements light as we advanced. As we grew closer, we stepped ever quieter and more carefully.

When we reached a certain distance away from the beast, I whispered to Doppy, “Doppy, can you purify it?”

“I’m not sure.”

“You mean it’s impossible?”

“No. The corruption is overwhelming. Fenri—I mean, my power may not be enough.”

“What if we weaken it first?”

“That’s not the issue.”

Tunyak overheard our exchange and frowned. “The Apostle himself deems the task too difficult? Does this mean the Forgotten God’s power is still lacking? Damn it. So granting it rest is our only choice after all.”

“Wait.” I quickly sifted through everything I had learned.

Tunyak had described the divine beast as corrupted. The oil-like stench and the decaying soil reminded me of something.

The Core of Decay.

Unlike the demonic energy from a previous floor, this corruption here felt like something I could neutralize. If we subdued the corrupted diving beast first and used the Core of Decay to cleanse it, then maybe Doppy could purify it.

“I think there is something we can do. Instead of granting it rest immediately, let’s focus on subduing it.”

“You have a plan?”

“I can’t guarantee it, but I think it’s worth trying.”

“Fine.”

“If it notices us, I’ll take the left. You take the right.”

Tunyak hesitated for a moment before nodding. We didn’t have many options, so we stepped forward.

Once we reached sixty meters from the corrupted divine beast, its eyes snapped open. Its elongated neck twisted sharply, and its gaze landed on us. Its crimson-black and unblinking pupils bored into us.

Suddenly—

“

KROOOOOOOOH!

”

The beast rose from the blackened pool, towering above us.