Chapter 273: Seventy-Second Floor, The Forgotten God (4)

[Complete Tunyak’s additional request. Time remaining: 22 hours 42 minutes.]

To be precise, the light—a sacred, radiant emerald glow—came from the deep green gem embedded in the necklace.

Tunyak was clearly startled by the luminous flare, and he whipped his head in my direction. “

Gasp!

”

Not a second later, he turned his gaze back to the stone door.

Idiot. He nearly slipped.

Even so, I didn’t dare look directly at the necklace either. The sensation alone was vivid enough to retain my focus.

As the light grew stronger, the feeling of the necklace brushing against my neck began to fade, gradually thinning like mist dissolving in water. It was just like when Ha Hee-Jeong had enchanted me with the Thunderstone, almost as if the necklace were seeping into me.

The moment the green light vanished, I realized that the necklace had assimilated with me.

An unfamiliar power surged through me, far beyond anything Doppy’s buffs could offer. More importantly, however, the pressure pushing against me didn’t increase alongside my newfound strength.

Huh?

At the same time, something warm and chilling brushed against the nape of my neck before sliding along my arm. All of my hair stood on end.

I knew that touch. It was the same sensation I had felt on the second floor, that of Paraktus placing the necklace on me while I supported the boulder.

Damn. I had forgotten all about it.

Despite the eerie discomfort, I felt noticeably lighter and more at ease, as if Paraktus himself were silently supporting me. Though I didn’t hear or see anything tangible, the power surrounding me was unmistakably his.

A wave of emotion rose in my chest.

It feels wild that even though I met Paraktus on the second floor, he is still helping me.

A quiet affirmation that my climb through the tower hadn’t been in vain.

Now wasn’t the time for sentimentality, however. I focused and pushed just as Paraktus had done—slowly, steadily.

Grrrk.

The stone door began to budge inch by inch.

Tunyak, noticing that something had changed, let out a dumbfounded noise.

“

Hm?

”

I ignored him and adjusted my footing as the door shifted. The force pressing against me was immense, and I had to be precise. Sweat trickled down my brow.

Bit by bit, the stone gave way, and a faint gap soon formed.

In that moment, I felt the red energy that Doppy and the divine beast had previously manifested. It spilled from the crevice like mist, a gentle crimson glow settling over both Tunyak and me.

Layered atop Paraktus’s power, another divine presence enveloped me. I felt a strange sense of euphoria, tinged with exhilaration.

Grrrrk.

The door began to move faster, and the gap widened. When it was just wide enough for a person to slip through—

Clunk!

The entire door yanked open. That hadn’t been because of our efforts, though. It had to have reached some kind of threshold, triggering a mechanism. The slab slammed into the side wall with a deafening bang, shattering into dust that scattered into the air.

“

Aaaargh!

” Tunyak, thrown off balance, tumbled forward with a crash.

I managed to steady myself.

Flat on his stomach and sprawled on the floor, Tunyak panted heavily. “

Huff, huff.

Wh-what was that just now? That had to be the Forgotten God helping us, right?”

“

Haaah

. Probably.”

I had nearly reached my limit as well, and could only answer after catching my breath. Though I deliberately avoided mentioning Paraktus’s necklace, Tunyak—still lying on the ground—lifted his head to gaze at me.

“But that green light, what was it? From the way the Apostle reacted, it clearly meant something.”

I deflected the question and gestured toward the chamber beyond. “

Ah

, just a divine artifact. Anyway, look over there.”

From where he lay, Tunyak craned his neck to peer ahead. “Oh, right.”

Only then did I look around to see it for myself.

We were in the interior of an ancient temple. Massive pillars lined both sides of a long path leading through a central hall, reaching all the way up to the vaulted ceiling. At the end of the path, there was a series of a dozen steps, upon which stood an altar. Behind it loomed a statue of a goddess, watching us.

It was the same goddess that had been depicted riding the five-wheeled war chariot we had descended in. She had long flowing hair, a sword in one hand, and scales in the other.

Huh?

For a fleeting moment, I felt as if she were making direct eye contact with me.

What the.

No, it wasn’t my imagination.

“Forgotten God!”

Tunyak had spotted the statue, too. He scrambled upright and dropped to his knees in a hurried bow.

Isn’t he still a bit too far away from the statue to bow?

We were at least fifty meters away. Judging by his flustered movement, I figured he had bowed instinctively, startled by the sight.

“Aren’t you kind of far from the statue?”

“Y-you’re right.”

As he stood back up, a strange pulse of mana rippled through the air.

Turning to the goddess’s statue, I noticed that her expression had changed into a soft, serene smile. It was surreal.

A voice rang out across the temple’s interior. “Thank you, Challenger. It’s been a while.”

“G-goddess!” Tunyak, who had just finished standing up, bowed again with even more reverence.

The statue’s smile lingered, and she shifted her gaze to Doppy. “Child of Fenrike. I thank you and Fenrike as well.”

Doppy’s voice trembled as he answered, “

Ah

, n-no! No, th-thank you!”

Unlike them, I wasn’t especially shaken since I had met gods before.

I stepped forward and asked, “Who are you?”

“Master of the Five Carriage Wheels.”

“She revealed her name! Master of the Five Carriage Wheels!”

Tunyak was practically swooning again. I shot him a sidelong glance, brow furrowed.

Master of the Five Carriage Wheels.

That name sounded oddly familiar, so I felt confident that I had heard it before. I tried to recall the past.

Is she one of the deities who offered me a sponsorship during the tutorial phase?

Maybe. Not that it mattered right now—her comment from earlier had caught my attention.

“What do you mean by it’s been a while? Do we know each other?”

The goddess smiled faintly. “In time, you’ll understand. For now, thank you, Challenger. We’ll meet again soon.”

With that, the conversation ended, and crimson light wrapped around me.

It felt like an unprecedented surge of power was flooding through me. An inexplicable sense of elation washed over me, and my eyes closed naturally.

In the blink of an eye, I sensed the world around me shift. When I opened my eyes again, I was standing in front of the statue we had ridden into the temple.

No.

It wasn’t a statue anymore. The divine beast and the stone statue of the chariot had vanished, leaving only a real chariot behind.

A chariot with five wheels.

In front of it, a pair of luxurious leather reins lay stretched out across the ground, as if waiting to be fastened to something.

Those are harnesses, right? Anyway, what the hell is going on?

I turned to look behind me, only to find that the passageway we had originally entered had been sealed shut.

Tunyak still hadn’t appeared, either. Only Doppy stood next to me, blinking up at me in confusion.

“Doppy, do you know what just happened?”

“No idea! The goddess sent us here!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Then what?!”

“Why didn’t Tunyak—”

Before I could finish, Tunyak materialized in front of us. He looked dazed, practically in a trance. Despite that, I could tell that he was far stronger than before.

Though the goddess had blessed me as well, her blessing had strengthened Tunyak far more than it had me.

“What happened to you?”

“The goddess... Master of the Five Carriage Wheels. She chose me,” Tunyak murmured in a dreamlike voice, eyes still unfocused.

Then, as he blinked and his gaze steadied, he met my eyes. “Well, let’s forget that you and the Apostle—no, Doppy—lied. In the end, it was all for the goddess.”

It seemed like he had conversed extensively with the goddess, and she had brought him up to speed on the situation. Judging by what he said, Tunyak had officially become her apostle.

Hm.

Now that our lie had been exposed, I wasn’t really sure how to respond. I awkwardly scratched the back of my head and exchanged glances with Doppy.

Tunyak simply turned and started walking toward the chariot. “Let’s go up.”

“Okay.”

The chariot had changed, but nothing else about the process had.

We boarded the chariot and ascended in silence. Tunyak, newly appointed as an apostle, carried a strange new presence and seemed lost in thought.

With a mechanical clunk, the hatch above us opened, and sunlight from the wasteland spilled in. I immediately expanded my aura as far as I could, scanning the surroundings. Thankfully, there were no signs of enemies.

The landscape appeared almost completely unchanged as well. The divine beast, bull, and the mechanical horse were still gathered nearby, waiting calmly.

Contrary to our worries, it seemed the pursuers hadn’t arrived yet.

Well, we had returned from belowground fairly quickly. Even faster than I had expected, really. They probably hadn’t had enough to detect our movements, send a signal, and dispatch reinforcements.

Then, Tunyak suddenly whistled. Seemingly responding to that signal, the divine beast came running from a distance.

Not the bull, but the divine beast?

That was surprising. Becoming an apostle seemed to have granted him some kind of power.

“

Kaha

,

kshuu

,” Tunyak called out in an odd-sounding voice, gently stroking the divine beast’s neck.

Then he took the harness in front of the chariot and fastened it around the divine beast’s neck.

The stone statue we had seen at the beginning had come even more to life.

A divine beast pulling a chariot.

It was a surreal sight.

Anyway, if Tunyak had spoken with the goddess, then he probably knew what came next.

As he gently patted the divine beast’s side, I stepped toward him and asked, “So, what now? What did the goddess say? Why did she disappear?”

Tunyak’s eyes sharpened slightly as he looked out across the barren landscape. “I don’t know the full details yet. For now, we wait. They’ll be here soon.”

***

[Complete Tunyak’s additional request. Time remaining: 21 hours 23 minutes.]

We waited in the blazing sun for about an hour. Then, in the distance, a group of around twenty riders appeared on horseback.

I narrowed my eyes, focusing on the lead rider.

Riding a deep red horse that looked like something out of legend, he wore a wide-brimmed cowboy hat. A long brown cape fluttered in the wind, and beneath it, his mechanical arm gleamed, matching the color of his horse.

Tunyak picked up his bow and muttered under his breath, “Red-Eyed Sogorong.”

“Red-Eyed Sogorong? Who’s that?”

Tunyak fell silent for a moment, then slowly spat out, “The pioneers’ best hunter.”

***

「Invisible message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has broken the shackles restraining the fifth-class god ‘Master of the Five Carriage Wheels.’ His skill has leveled up. Savior is now lvl 13.」

「Invisible message: ‘Master of the Five Carriage Wheels’ has ascended to the position of a fourth-class god.」

「Invisible message: ‘Master of the Five Carriage Wheels’ has granted Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok a blessing. All stats increased by 5.」