Chapter 369: Eighty-Fourth Floor, The Corpse of the Dead God (3)

Right when Kwon Su-Hyeok leapt suddenly into the lava, the navigator shouted down below, and the submersible came to an abrupt stop.

When the crew asked what just happened, Remtal took it upon himself to explain the situation.

“What? He just jumped in?”

“Into the lava?”

Even though the crew had seen him rise from molten lava, Kwon Su-Hyeok’s latest escapade was no less disorienting.

“Aren’t we supposed to go after him?”

“No! Hold position!”

After issuing only the bare minimum of orders, Remtal stepped out into the corridor. He needed time to think.

A question had suddenly surfaced in Remtal’s mind as he watched Kwon Su-Hyeok dive into the lava. Not a single mage from any legend or tale he had heard had ever done anything remotely similar.

At most, they could conjure flames or cast magic. Regardless, even that was hardly worth calling impressive.

Still, legends had a tendency to exaggerate, so he had never thought much of it before. However, seeing someone dive into lava and emerge from it unharmed was something else entirely.

A spark lit in Remtal’s thoughts.

Kalain.

The name of the submersible he stood on was borrowed from the savior of their ancestors.

According to legend, the world had once been home to gods. The lava god of the Chusain Volcano, in particular, was said to have taken the form of a serpent. No one believed in gods anymore, but there had been a time when the lava god’s religion flourished.

Its followers claimed the Great Explosion had been a divine punishment and that only the chosen would survive.

Kalain was the god’s emissary.

However, others argued that Kalain was the god himself. A new religion had formed in response, and in the aftermath of the Great Explosion, tensions between the two had reportedly flared.

Eventually, some of the survivors migrated west and pioneered a new continent, and many years passed.

Both religions faded into obscurity long ago, but the records still remained. Though debate persisted over whether they were fact or fiction.

If asked, Remtal would have said he leaned toward belief in the lava god.

Perhaps the mage is another emissary sent by the gods.

A world that has forsaken its gods, once again facing divine punishment. Maybe only those who remember and believe in the old gods will survive...

The thought trailed off, and Remtal shook his head. It didn’t hold up because Kwon Su-Hyeok was clearly trying to stop the Great Explosion, not bring it about.

Another hypothesis came to mind.

Among archaeologists, one text was widely dismissed as apocryphal. Still, in an old tome he encountered, there was a striking story claiming that the god had died. It described an eyewitness testimony of a mountain-sized serpent collapsing just before the Great Explosion.

At the time, the story was suppressed by the dominant faith that worshipped the lava god. However, it continued to circulate among those who believed in Kalain, and they insisted that Kalain was the new god.

Can it be... is he the same one from then?

The mage had reacted to the name Kalain with visible surprise.

Now that Remtal thought about it, the name “Kwon Su-Hyeok” felt odd. It was too much like an alias.

Adventurers are known to use false names, but what if Kalain itself wasn’t a name either? What if Kalain and Kwon Su-Hyeok are one and the same, a being that has returned to save us once again?

His thoughts spiraled and branched out in every direction. Though it was absurd, he even wondered if the mage could be the lava god’s son.

Strange signs appeared after he reached the volcano’s summit, and he wielded ancient power without hesitation.

Damn it.

Remtal shook off the thoughts.

These are meaningless assumptions.

This wasn’t something he could figure out with half-baked knowledge.

Still, if the mage emerged from the lava again, he resolved himself to ask gently. If his guess turned out to be right, then he didn’t know what he would do. Even if it wasn’t, the man was clearly no ordinary being.

Remtal turned and made his way back to the command room. The space was still abuzz with noise.

“Silence! Leave only the essential crew topside. There’s a chance the other submersible has gone down. Prepare for a rescue mission!”

***

Splash!

The lava split like water, though far thicker. I dove straight down at full speed, and the horn I held surged with divine light.

As long as I endured the searing pain in my hands, I could conserve both my divinity and mana to the utmost limit.

Unfortunately, I can’t keep this up for long.

In just this short descent, I had already readjusted my grip on the horn several times.

Even with my gauntlets, it had scorched my hands, and the skin continued to peel away. Wounds inflicted by divine energy healed slowly, so holding it for too long would risk damaging my nerves.

To avoid that, I had been switching hands each time I used it to redirect, but that didn’t mean I could afford to do that too many times.

I just hope the submersible is still intact.

I shifted my focus. I had dived into the lava without hesitation, purely out of instinct. A foreboding sensation had pointed me downward. The horn reacted a moment later, and it continued pointing below as well.

Even so, I didn’t follow where the horn was pointing—I descended toward the place my intuition guided me.

I needed to find the submersible in danger, not the corpse of a god.

As long as it hadn’t melted completely, there was still a chance to save the people inside of it.

I can’t open a portal inside divine-infused lava, though.

This was my third time diving into lava suffused with divinity.

The first time, I still had some room to breathe. Being my first experience, the idea of using a portal hadn’t even occurred to me.

The second time, I realized that perhaps I could open one while escaping the lava. Sadly, it didn't work. Only once I had left the divine lava’s bounds—guided by the horn—had I realized I could finally activate the skill.

If I open the portal using divinity, it may work. I don’t know how to do that yet, though.

My plan was simple. If I found the submersible, I would forcibly raise it from the lava. Then, the moment we emerged from the divine lava, I would open a portal. Once it reached the surface, Remtal could take over from there. If things got complicated, I could help out more.

Otherwise, I would return to the depths and resume the search for the god’s remains.

First things first, I have to find the submersible.

I pushed my senses to the limit, spreading them as far as they could reach.

Visibility was nonexistent, so I had no way of knowing when or from where the submersible would appear.

Even my senses struggled in the molten sea, and I was descending at considerable speed. I couldn’t afford even the slightest lapse in focus.

Hmm?

Not long after, I felt something faintly at the edge of my perception.

A submersible.

Following the horn’s lead, I unleashed the divinity and mana I had conserved, releasing it in a violent pulse.

Boom!

A shockwave of power burst outward, scattering the surrounding lava in a wide ring.

At last, the submersible came into view.

Thank goodness.

It hadn’t completely melted yet. Though its outer metal was starting to warp and sag, and a few small holes had formed near the upper wall, it was still functional.

A startled face appeared behind one of the small holes. Our eyes met, and their widened pupils grew almost comically large.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Some lava seemed to have seeped into the submersible, but not enough to be fatal.

Seems like they accounted for a certain degree of leakage in the design.

Grates had been placed along the floor of the submersible. They were there in the hopes that they could buy even a few extra moments in the event lava seeped in through a breach.

So far, everything was still within the submersible’s manageable limits, but there was no time to spare.

“Hold on to something! Anything!” I shouted as I moved to position myself beneath the vessel.

Bracing myself against a platform of mana, I pushed upward with all my strength.

Mana and divinity surged through me, driving back the lava threatening to flood back into the vacant space. A fierce struggle unfolded between my own divine power and the divinity infused within the molten sea.

Just then, the horn beside me flared.

Pop!

A sudden burst of divine light filled the space. When I turned my head, the horn was pointing downward, signaling for me to descend.

I clenched my jaw.

This fucking god.

I was trying to save the people of their world, and now they wanted me to search for their corpse first?

I ignored the horn’s command and continued pushing upward. In response, it lashed out, as if to obstruct me.

Two-Way Portal still wouldn’t work.

Gritting my teeth, I mustered more divinity. I didn’t have much to spare, but if I didn’t do more now, it could be too late.

The burst of divine energy forced the horn back. Unfortunately, I was already dividing my strength in multiple directions, and it wasn’t enough.

I need to save these people!

Just as the pressure began to overwhelm me, Savior activated.

A surge of unfamiliar power erupted within me. At the same time, divine energy flooded in from somewhere, almost as if it had crossed over from another world.

Whatever it was, I welcomed it.

I pushed back with newfound force, pressing the horn with my divine will.

I am saving your people now.

The power struggle lasted only moments. In the end, I won due to the divine energy radiating from the horn dying out in an instant.

This was my moment. I forced the submersible upward.

The horn no longer resisted and quietly followed, although it still pointed downward, as if unwilling to let go. I ignored it and continued ascending.

As soon as I exited the divine-infused lava, I opened a portal to the same location on the surface I had marked earlier.

With how high the Two-Way Portal’s level was, I could now adjust the size of the portal to some extent.

I shoved the submersible through and sealed the gate.

Thank goodness. The vessel is okay.

I turned and fixed a glare on the horn. “All right, let’s go. Time to find your damn corpse.”

Though I said it in a sarcastic tone, the horn likely didn’t understand. It expressed itself in actions, not thought. More accurately, all that remained was instinct.

The way it kept pointing downward was closer to a homing impulse, like a puzzle piece trying to return to its other half. I had sensed that before. Even if I recovered the entire body, it wouldn’t bring the god back to life.

I reached for the horn again. A sting jolted through my fingers as I began to descend.

Still, having done this several times already, I had learned how to manage. The divine energy I had replenished helped too.

How far have I descended?

After what felt like a long while, I finally reached the bottom, though calling it a “floor” didn’t feel quite right.

So this is the trench.

Just like before, the horn released a burst of divinity and repelled the surrounding lava. This time, it did it on a much greater scale, however.

Even then, it wasn’t enough to reveal the entire trench. It only showed how vast the space truly was.

I had landed on its outermost edge.

The earthquake really blocked it.

The terrain was uneven. Just below my field of vision, the trench was packed with countless enormous boulders. Between them, I spotted a part of the god’s corpse buried in the rock.

The body was so massive that I couldn’t begin to measure its full size.

A serpent?

If I had to imagine how it had looked, it would be a human torso attached at the waist to a massive snake tail.

Still, it didn’t quite fit. The torso alone was easily five meters tall, but the serpent’s body stretched endlessly beyond sight. Its girth was tremendous and strangely disproportionate.

Well, there is no point in dwelling on its appearance.

What mattered now was breaking through.

Unfortunately, the trench was so vast that I had no idea where to even begin.

Hmm.

If possible, I would absorb the god’s corpse into the horn. Perhaps that would disrupt the boulders enough to collapse and open a path.

The horn trembled in my grasp, restless and urgent. I brought it to the corpse.

Just like before, a flash of foreign divine light surged from the point of contact. Then, as expected, system messages appeared.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has recovered the full remains of the second-class god ‘Mother of Volcanoes and the Sea of Lava.’]

[Just before her death, ‘Mother of Volcanoes and the Sea of Lava’ transferred her world into the tower.]

[If Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok resolves her lingering resentment, he will be granted additional rewards.]

***

「Invisible Message: Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has recovered the full remains of the deceased god.」

「Invisible Message: He has obtained twenty-five percent of Planet B-31’s shares.」

「Invisible Message: The hidden mission ‘The Corpse of the Dead God’ has evolved into ‘The Resentment of the Dead God.’」