Chapter 432: Ninety-Second Floor, Waiting Room (1)

[Exterminate all enemies. Time remaining: 16 minutes 53 seconds.]

I kept my eyes open this time. Even though I could sense everything even with them shut, witnessing it directly was its own experience altogether.

The stroke of blue-gold light drew a perfect line through the immense black hole that was vast enough to swallow dozens of stadiums. In its wake, it left behind a faint emerald afterimage, beautiful and indicating the end.

Saboden had died.

I had cleaved the all-consuming void, striking at Saboden’s essence itself. Still somewhat in a trance, I retraced the motion I had just performed.

For a brief instant, I surpassed what I thought possible.

The movement I had unleashed had gone beyond the limits of what I understood or could consciously execute. Amidst the surging tide of power, every action I had performed seemed vividly clear.

Before that sharpness faded, I followed the sequence in my mind step by step. The placement of my fingers upon Soulbound, the contracting muscles, the steadiness of my breath, my posture after the strike, and finally, the moment the axe touched the black hole.

Perhaps it was the thrill of combat, but my mind felt razor-sharp, acutely awake. Because of that, it didn’t take me long to organize what I had absorbed.

After a brief moment of meditation, I turned toward the colossal black hole. It twisted faintly, slid on a diagonal, and began to split. The monstrous mass had been cleaved in two.

What is happening?

Although I had split it, the black hole didn’t dissipate. It had ceased expanding, but continued to consume the smaller black holes nearby. I was dumbfounded for an instant, then steadied myself. Eventually, the two halves started consuming one another, and as they fed, they slowly diminished.

It is as if it is eating itself.

I watched the spectacle with a steady gaze.

The remaining black holes collapsed faster than the largest had grown. Moreover, despite Saboden’s death, my surroundings remained shrouded in shadow. I imagined the floor would naturally end soon.

My thoughts turned to other matters.

What was Saboden, truly?

At first, I had believed he was nothing more than a beast wielding spatial powers. That wasn’t the truth, though. The fact that he was composed of space itself meant his core being was tied to the concept and perhaps inseparable from it.

Of course, that didn’t mean he encompassed all of space, the vast fabric of all worlds. Moreover, I didn’t think that he had been that way from the beginning. His overwhelming might clearly originated from the Primordial God. Outwardly, he resembled the test subjects I had seen before.

Most likely, Saboden had been born with spatial powers. When the Primordial God vanished, he had likely seized some of that divine strength. The test subjects would have come after, too.

Earlier, I had wondered whether Saboden was the victim of an experiment, but that seemed unlikely. All signs indicated that Saboden had conducted the experiments. After acquiring the Primordial God’s power, he had forged replicas of himself, using them in trials to learn their capabilities.

Through this process, he had somehow anchored himself fundamentally to space. Alternatively, perhaps the Primordial God had crafted Saboden, like they had Deruope.

A monster of the Primordial God’s making.

After all, gods had existed even in that era. The fact that Saboden had obtained something connected to the Primordial God only reinforced the possibility. Recalling that Deruope’s creator had imprisoned it made the parallel stronger still.

I dismissed the train of thought. An answer couldn’t be found here, nor was there a being present who could provide one.

The black hole had diminished to a tenth of its former size. Within its depths, I caught glimpses of currents, each one absorbing then releasing cyclically. Perhaps I could draw further inspiration from them.

What?

The black hole, now no larger than a small stadium, suddenly began to convulse. At first glance, it looked as if it would explode, although it could simply be a final spasm before vanishing.

Is it going to detonate?

I entered a state of heightened focus, muscles tensing again, but my instincts didn’t warn me of any danger. The convulsions only intensified before, finally, from within the shuddering black hole, fragments tumbled outward and scattered before me.

What I saw left me taken aback.

“What the heck?”

In his death throes, Saboden expelled shards of metal, strands of hair, fragments of bone, and scraps of flesh.

I could immediately tell they came from me. Although the flesh and hair weren’t guaranteed to be mine, the circular and half-moon fragments of metal undoubtedly came from my damaged suit of armor. It was everything that had vanished—armor and flesh lost to the maze’s strikes and in this very battle. As death claimed him, he disgorged everything his attacks had absorbed.

I waited longer, but nothing else appeared.

Did he digest everything else after millennia of imprisonment?

I left the flesh and hair, but gathered the shards of armor and stored them in Mung-chi. They could prove valuable—or even necessary—during its repair. My armor was constructed from materials so rare that even one of the best smiths in the universe would struggle to obtain them. With these fragments, I could at least guarantee that none of the material was missing.

My bone fragments, flesh, and hair were worthless, on the other hand. Regardless, seeing such neat circles and semicircles of flesh left me feeling uneasy. Then, the black hole convulsed violently once again, shuddering worse than before. Despite that, I still didn’t sense any danger.

It still had at least one thing to expel. Considering Saboden had wielded the Primordial God’s power, I was confident it would be related to them.

From its final spasm, a sphere the size of my torso rolled free.

Huh?

It was a planet. Although small, it radiated an immense power. It likely appeared compressed only because Saboden had kept it stored within himself. Or perhaps the tower had scaled it for me.

Either way, the radiant, pristine world brimmed with the aura of the Primordial God. I felt strange in that moment. It was like I was gazing upon Earth from beyond the cosmos, though this clearly wasn’t Earth.

Remarkable.

The divine energy radiating from the shining sphere instilled tranquility in anyone who gazed upon or drew near it. Even I felt as if some hidden power within me was awakening and expanding further.

I looked beyond the sphere. The black hole that had disgorged it dwindled to a dot, then consumed itself and vanished. Nothing else had emerged, confirming my earlier assumption.

This small world had to have remained intact because it belonged to the Primordial God. Moreover, the fact that this world seemed unrelated to spatial abilities implied my earlier guess that Saboden had simply been born with those powers was correct.

Through the Primordial God’s world, he had grown stronger. The power it still contained made that obvious. To be honest, it was astonishing.

Even without mastering it, he wielded such strength.

It left me wondering just how powerful the Primordial God truly was.

What will happen if I claim this world fully?

The thought was cut short as the notification window refreshed.

[Congratulations. Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has conquered the ninety-first floor of the Tower of Ordeal: The Maze of Saboden.]

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has saved the world trapped within Saboden, a beast that devoured one of the Primordial God’s realms.]

[The darkness shrouding the divine world has lifted. Time within that world flows once again. All beings within that world witnessed Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok’s deeds and struggles. Achievement points will be calculated.]

Hmm, as expected.

I felt a quiet satisfaction at having guessed correctly. Perhaps the time I had spent climbing the tower hadn’t been in vain after all. However, the final message intrigued me more. I didn’t know exactly how the inhabitants of the planet had watched me while their time was stopped, but the moment it appeared, my divinity surged dramatically.

No, calling it divinity doesn’t feel entirely accurate.

It was divinity, yes, but purer and more forceful. It wasn’t purely the Primordial God’s power, either. At its core, it was divinity, but somehow it carried the Primordial God’s aura, as if it was woven into the divinity.

Most likely, that hint of power originated from the small world’s identity. Also, I was receiving far greater faith than I had anticipated. The message had mentioned time resuming. Could the burst of divinity have accumulated over the course of the fight and had only flowed into me once I had freed the world?

The notification message refreshed again.

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok has completed the hidden mission. As an additional reward, he has obtained pending ownership of the world. Full ownership will be granted upon conquest of the Tower of Ordeal.]

[Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok will now enter the waiting room.]

The result didn’t disappoint me. In truth, it was the natural course of things. I wasn’t an established god, nor did I have the capacity to govern a world.

As the weightless feeling began, the tower’s warm voice reached my ears.

[Well done. We thank you for your efforts.]

A faint smile crept across my lips.

Is this the first time the tower has directly shown gratitude to me?

It was quite pleasant.

***

[71 hours 59 minutes until the rest period ends. Please take a rest.]

The tower had granted me three days of respite.

Perfect. Compared to the twelve hours I had spent within the trial, that was generous. Clearly, it had been calculated with the trial’s difficulty in mind.

Hmm.

I glanced around the waiting room. It felt strangely empty without Doppy, Ryun, or Yoonie. Normally, we would exchange greetings the moment I arrived.

I would need to grow accustomed to the change.

As I removed my equipment, I waited for Ha Hee-Jeong to try to contact me. Since the trial had ended, I expected her to reach out to me. However, the necklace remained silent. Even when I imbued it with mana, it didn’t react.

Weird.

I had thought I couldn’t communicate during a trial, and I considered the waiting room separate.

Is it truly impossible? Even in the waiting room?

As the thought crossed my mind, I tried to open a portal to the rest area, but it failed. Perhaps the rest between floors was considered part of the trial.

Did Ha Hee-Jeong only contact me on the ninety-first floor through Master of the Five Carriage Wheels?

On the other hand, it was entirely possible that the tower had realized the loophole belatedly and sealed it. Who was I to know?

Just in case, I attempted to open a portal to Seorden’s Forest and Natalie’s world. Fortunately, those connections still worked. The tower only prevented me from communicating with other climbers.

Why only them?

The answer came to me quickly—they could generate more divinity that way. A little distance instilled urgency and faith more effectively than direct communication ever could.

Hmm. Nothing really changed in practice.

I regretted not being able to see Ha Hee-Jeong, but in the end, only once we conquered the tower would we truly be free.

That joy can wait. For now, it is time to shower.

I briefly considered training to internalize the insight I had gained, but at present, it remained hazy. I had already imprinted the memory the best I could. Even if it was a profound realization, I couldn’t reproduce it yet.

At such times, it was better to cool my head.

Plus, honestly, I feel nasty.

For the first time since fighting Endless Furnace, an opponent had thrown me around in earnest, and I had suffered within the trial, literally rolling across the ground. Though I had fully recovered, the dried and hardened blood inside my armor left me uncomfortable.

I headed to the bathroom. I would only take a short shower, since I intended to train again soon. That would be enough to clear my head. In truth, I was weary enough to sleep, but deepening my comprehension of the finishing blow took top priority.

***

Even after training for some time, I couldn’t reproduce the inspiration I had brushed against earlier. Back then, I had managed to cut Saboden not only physically but in spirit as well. Unfortunately, it eluded me even after I replicated the move to the best of my ability multiple times.

Still, I was patient. I had reached it once before, so in time, I would cross that threshold again. Afterward, I headed for the hot spring.

Better to let the experience soak into my body through rest than to cling to it fruitlessly.

Immersed in the warm waters, I lay there absentmindedly when a memory surfaced. Since I had just heard the tower’s gentle voice, the memory was related to it.

“They are the one the tower desires. Even if you succeed in your trials, it’s uncertain whether you’ll achieve what the tower seeks.”

The Wind Spirit King—or at least the replica from combat training before the thirty-fourth floor—had told me this after I questioned it about challengers. Back then, I hadn’t understood what it meant. Thinking about it now, however, the Wind Spirit King had given me an enormous hint.

The one the tower desires.

In hindsight, it aligned with what Thunder Axe had told me about my uniqueness, even hinting at my indirect regression.

Hmm.

Still, I could’t say for certain whether the Wind Spirit King knew as much as Thunder Axe. Even considering that the Wind Spirit King I had encountered in Euros’s Forest wasn’t necessarily the same one, it hadn’t had such a depth of knowledge.

Since the one I had fought was a replica, perhaps the tower itself had spoken through it. After all, the tower had reached out to me on several occasions since the first floor.

“What exactly are you?”

My voice echoed hollowly within the training room. It was a careless question, but once spoken, I realized I truly wished to converse with the tower.

In the past, I had assumed it couldn’t answer. Who could say that was the case now, though? I had met Cho-Yeon and was undergoing challenger-specific trials.

A spark of anticipation stirred within me. It was a peculiar feeling, lying naked in the hot spring with no one else around.

I lifted my gaze toward the empty air and waited with expectation. “What is it you truly want?”