Chapter 298: Seventy-Fifth Floor, The Old Man and the Spirits (4)

An online community on Earth, during the seventy-fifth floor.

[SHIT.]

[Whoa, that’s insane.]

[😂😂😂]

[Kwon Su-Hyeok! Kwon Su-Hyeok! Kwon Su-Hyeok! Kwon Su-Hyeok! Kwon Su-Hyeok!]

[Live update: The God of Lightning, Kwon Su-Hyeok, descends.]

[That lightning is unreal.]

[Is that even something a human can do?]

[He is a god, after all.]

[Did you hear? The Church of Kwon Su-Hyeok just surpassed twenty million followers.]

[Wasn’t that a crazy joke some American dude made up for fun?]

[Yeah, it was.]

[No, I heard it was made to look like a joke on purpose to avoid crackdowns from established religions.]

[Really? That was a thing? America’s wild, man.]

[I kinda joined half as a joke too, but at this point, he’s basically a real god lol.]

[I’m officially a believer now.]

[Live update: Twenty-one million followers and counting lololol]

[How’d it jump a million in three minutes??]

[Tbh, it already hit twenty million a while ago.]

[LMAO I’m joining too.]

***

[Resolve the old man’s regrets. Time remaining: 11 hours 34 minutes.]

An instant after the roar, the monsters—who had been shrieking in fear and scattering beneath the lightning—simultaneously came to an abrupt halt. Like malfunctioning puppets, they turned their heads in eerie unison.

Dozens of thousands of cold, glassy eyes settled on me. They were half-lifeless stares, and their expressionless gazes created a grotesque, almost surreal scene.

Lightning continued to flicker within the brooding sky, causing light to flash irregularly over the horde and add to the creepiness. Each time the world flashed blue, thunder cracked, and bolts of lightning rained down upon the land.

However, the monsters remained impassive.

Mass hypnosis, maybe?

It felt like that. Though I had only heard the roar, even I had sensed a faint wave of dread wash over me.

Calling it “fear” wasn’t quite accurate, however. It was more like my consciousness had momentarily slipped from reality for a second. Whatever it was, it was undeniably a psychic attack.

Thanks to my mental resistance skills—and perhaps my divinity—I hadn’t succumbed the way the monsters had.

My concern immediately shifted to the princess’s entourage behind me. I could withstand it, but they were essentially ordinary people. They wouldn’t be so lucky.

Phew. They are still okay for now.

The startled horses had risen onto their hind legs, neighing in distress. Several soldiers had already been thrown to the ground. Pale-faced riders clenched their jaws, struggling to calm their mounts.

That was when the princess began changing.

“――――――!”

It sounded similar to a spell’s incantation, but it wasn’t quite the same. If anything, it seemed more ritualistic, akin to the shamanic techniques Hyun had used.

A translucent barrier materialized around her group, and its energy struck me as off. It wasn’t made from mana or divine energy.

What is that?

Hyun had used spells drawn from mana, even as a shaman. The force she invoked didn’t resemble mana at all, though. Perhaps it was unique to this world and its shamanism.

More importantly, the barrier was effective. It completely blocked the influence of that roar.

The soldiers, who had briefly lost their composure, began to steady themselves again, calming their horses and regaining their bearings.

Good. They at least have some form of protection.

If they had been overwhelmed by that scream, things would have quickly spiraled out of control. The last thing I needed was allies turning against me.

Once I was certain the rear was stable, I shifted my attention back to the horde. The monsters didn’t so much as flinch as bolts slammed into the ground around them, dirt and limbs exploding into the air.

They didn’t even blink.

“

Graaaahhhh!

”

A second roar echoed, and this time, the monsters began to advance.

It didn’t matter. As long as the group behind me remained unaffected, having the enemies rush toward me was more convenient than chasing them down.

I adjusted the storm’s strike zone, redirecting the bombardment so that it would target more tightly in front of me.

They weren’t charging quickly, so there was no need to spread the attacks outward.

Even as concentrated bolts rained down in a thunderous deluge, the monsters showed no fear. Instead, they picked up speed.

And here I thought this one would go smoothly.

It now made sense why I had been granted a full four hours per event. This trial wasn’t designed to be completed in a rush.

I continued charging ahead, slowly raising my axe until the blade pointed skyward.

In truth, the horde itself wasn’t the main problem.

The real threat is the one commanding them from behind.

I looked past the advancing monsters. Even amid the towering, two-meter-tall beasts, one figure stood out sharply.

Over five meters tall, it had two simian-like heads that twisted and gnashed rabidly, each snarling in tandem. Alongside the two heads, it possessed four massive arms and a tail as thick as my torso that lashed wildly through the air. To make the situation worse, that thing had the power to mentally control dozens of thousands of monsters with a single scream.

If that thing retreats and controls them from a distance, this will get really messy.

Given the unnatural divinity it held, trying to pin it down wouldn’t be easy. If it decided to flee, catching it would be a nightmare.

Regardless, it had to go die first. The horde was tied to its voice.

If I brought it down, the monsters would scatter the moment lightning began to fall again, just like they had before.

Hmm.

I lowered my gaze. A soft, golden light still shimmered faintly around me—residue from the divine-power-infused lightning I had used during my descent.

It was a visual effect I had devised to raise the hope of the people. Not particularly efficient, but it looked impressive, which was the point.

I paused to consider my next move.

If I am going to take that thing out, I may as well make it look good.

Its corrupted divinity was a problem, however. Lightning alone wasn’t necessarily enough to kill it—divinity had to be met with divinity.

So... how to bring it down?

It would be best to finish the fight quickly, even if it meant burning through a lot of mana and divine energy—preferably in one strike.

If I end this fast, I may even get some time to rest before the next battle begins.

Dragging this out and stumbling into the next memory without the time to recover would only make things harder.

Having made up my mind, I extended a hand forward.

Bang, bang!

Five colossal lightning bolts crashed down from the sky at my command, slamming into the space between me and the monster. The frontline disintegrated in an instant.

To safeguard the princess’s group, I activated Master of Shadows. From both sides of the cleared path, thousands of three-meter-long shadow spears erupted from the ground like a forest of spikes.

“

Kieeeek!

”

“

Skreeeeaah!

”

First, lightning had scoured the path, and now, spears of shadow fortified it.

Monsters slashed and clawed at the lances, trying to press through. However, their actions were futile. The spears had grown with me and were far more durable. Even if they broke, I could simply conjure more.

The brief pause in the monster’s charge allowed the princess’s forces to regain their momentum. They surged forward once more.

As I dashed ahead, I kept my eyes locked on the creature. Not long after, I had closed the distance enough for a notification window to appear.

[Screaming Parasite]

- Once possessed a pure divinity, but has been corrupted by a distorted dimension

- Its roar can disrupt the minds of those who hear it. Weak-willed individuals will fall under its control.

- When its two heads scream in unison, it conjures hallucinations so vivid they are indistinguishable from reality.

I narrowed my eyes slightly. There was no name listed on the alert window, and that threw me off, if only for a moment.

Screaming Parasite.

Thinking about it, the name suited its abilities quite well. I quickly scanned through the details. As expected, it could control the monsters’ minds with just its voice.

Mental domination isn’t a problem; I already have experience resisting that.

The mention of illusions bothered me more. I hadn’t fought against many foes proficient with illusions before, but this was the first time the tower had explicitly described them as “indistinguishable from reality.”

That, coupled with the fact that its divinity had been corrupted, was troubling. If its illusion abilities were significant enough to be specifically mentioned, then they shouldn’t be easily dismissed.

I do have Illusion Resistance, but still...

Corrupted or not, the illusions would likely be imbued with divine power, and divine power required divine countermeasures. Unfortunately, the only thing I could currently do with Divine Power was boost my strength.

Still, the tower hadn’t mentioned any unique physical traits.

Sure, it would be stronger than the regular monsters, but aside from the illusions, there didn’t seem to be any major hazards.

I raised my hand toward the sky.

Strategy aside, I also need to consider how the princess’s party views me.

Rumble, Boom!

A bolt of lightning fell from the flashing sky, slamming into Soulbound. The axe acted as a lightning rod and glowed a brilliant gold.

There were two ways to break through illusions. First, I could see the inaccuracies shatter them directly. Second, I could defeat the source of the illusions before they took effect.

Using the lightning stored within Soulbound, I surged forward.

Though really, it feels less like I am charging and more like I have been unleashed.

It was a technique beyond Flash Strike, one that fused lightning itself into me. It devoured mana at an absurd rate, but if not now, then when?

Everything around me seemed to slow, on the brink of total suspension. The sky that had brightened with lightning began to dim again. Because I was one with the lightning, my movement curved slightly as I launched. Despite that, I never strayed from my target.

Within this stretched moment, I closed in on the Screaming Parasite. Its four bloodshot eyes followed my approach.

Time to end it, fast.

As soon as I activated Divine Power and sent it into my axe, the creature reacted. Twin roars erupted at once.

“Graaaahh!”

“Graaaahh!”

Immediately, my vision shifted. All sound vanished, leaving only muffled silence, and my sense of direction collapsed. It felt like the world lost all axis, up, down, left, and right.

The monsters, the shadow lances, and even the Screaming Parasite itself began to melt into darkness.

Damn it.

I knew it was an illusion, but I couldn’t see any way to pierce through it. Even Illusion Resistance offered no response.

Just as I had thought, its divine nature made it far more difficult to resist.

Ugh.

The world around me felt like a dreamscape. Both sight and sound had faded, and I could no longer determine in which direction I was headed. All I could see was an expanse of pitch-black emptiness.

Within it, something darker writhed, threatening to swallow me whole. Alongside it came a crushing psychological pressure.

I clenched my teeth.

Stay calm. I have been through this before.

It was just like the time I had faced the Great Warlord of Terror, when it had trapped me in a frozen world of fear.

I immediately drew upon the divinity in my chest. A soft, blue radiance bloomed around me. However, the pressure didn’t ease, nor did my sense of orientation return.

Is this just because this is a more difficult floor? Or maybe, back then, Stagnant Terror’s power was muted by the tower’s restrictions.

I pushed the thought aside and focused on what I had seen right before entering the illusion. I had no sense of direction here, but if this truly was an illusion, then my real body was still moving in the physical world.

I was the Seeker of the Crossroads. In a space where direction itself had been lost, the path before me would still branch infinitely.

Only one would be correct.

And so far, I haven’t made any truly wrong choices.

I trusted myself.

In that instant, the divine power within me flared even more fiercely.

When illusion took hold, I had been roughly thirty meters from the creature. I was disoriented, yes, but my instincts had been sharpened by countless battles and were now guiding me.

I surrendered to that instinct.

The lightning, which had briefly hesitated, burst forth again. Gritting my teeth, I swung Soulbound diagonally into the void. Taking the creature’s massive size into account, I let the slash travel far.

Almost immediately, the darkness split apart as if my axe had torn through a black curtain.

Through that narrow opening, I caught a glimpse of the world beyond.

The creature’s enormous form had been split cleanly in two.

Then, my hearing returned.

“

Gyaaaaagh!

”

Rumble, BOOM!

Thunder roared, monsters screamed, and the world of shadow was swept away like mist on the wind.

Before me, the Screaming Parasite spun through the air, its massive torso split diagonally.

I lifted my hand toward the sky. Another blue bolt came crashing down, striking the creature midair.

Thud!

A massive thunderbolt swept across the ground in a fifty-meter radius. Dozens of monsters, scorched black, collapsed instantly.

A chorus of terrified horses echoed through the ravine.

Whinny—!

From a distance, I heard the stunned voices of the princess’s party.

“Oh my gosh.”

“Divine-divine Grace...”