Chapter 441: Ninety-Second Floor, The Feast’s End (7)

Only one thought was running through my head at this moment.

Crazy. I can’t believe it actually worked.

The art of using my will to strike an enemy had occurred to me during my fight against Saboden. Despite trying my best to recreate it afterward, I hadn’t managed to. At best, I had clumsily imitated the movement, but not the intent.

At the time, I had wondered whether I needed real combat, a situation where I was under pressure. Deep down, I hadn’t believed I could reproduce the strike.

I suppose I have always learned best during actual combat.

This all but proved that training had never suited me as well as exchanging blows and the threat of death.

I wonder if that is true for everyone as well.

In any case, I had stepped into a new realm of mastery. Now I could perform that mind-cut not just once, but several times. I didn’t know what to call it yet, but that hardly mattered. I curbed my delight and replayed the last couple of moments.

While submerged in rubble, I had severed Eternal Feast’s arm and reentered his Banquet Hall to pursue him. I attacked him again, but he had already withdrawn to a safe distance.

Rather than press, I focused on recovery. Radiance seeped from the gaping wound in my chest. My dramatic return was supplying me with a vast amount of divine energy, definitely drawn from the climbers and viewers on Earth.

I had already crippled one of Eternal Feast’s limbs, so I didn’t feel as rushed anymore. He had to have expended a great deal of causality and divinity just to block my second strike.

Yes, my chest had a gaping hole, but in the end, my plan had succeeded; I had drastically weakened him at a tolerable cost.

Well, perhaps a hole in the chest isn’t what most would call “tolerable.”

It didn’t matter. As long as a path to victory still existed, the route itself was irrelevant.

I fixed my gaze on Eternal Feast and his barrier woven from causality and divinity. Attacking it would be meaningless. As I had just confirmed, my will could damage it, but not break through in one blow.

Why is he maintaining it?

He could see and block my attacks well enough. Maintaining the barrier would drain his resources unnecessarily. For me, it made no difference; my believers unceasingly replenished my divinity. For him, on the other hand, conserving power was vital. That could only mean he had set another scheme in motion.

Regardless, remaining idle was a poor choice, so I prepared to swing when—

What?

I caught his expression and realized something was wrong. He appeared to be looking at me, but his pupils weren’t focused. His gaze was fixed elsewhere. A moment later, I felt his divinity linking to something far away.

Don’t tell me. Is he contacting these traitors’ gods?

Instinctively, I swung my axe. Lightning rained upon his distant barrier, but it didn't break. Though he flinched, Eternal Feast paid it no mind. He even smiled faintly as if declaring the matter already settled.

Too late.

The moment I tried to spring forward, a massive wave of mana erupted from the collection of apostles. Behind Skyalf, a luminous blue magic circle spread open.

I recognized it instantly. It was a large-scale portal.

So this was what Eternal Feast and the traitors prepared for?

The timing struck me as strange. If they had intended to summon reinforcements, why wait until now? That question hardly mattered at this point, however; enemies were arriving. I had no way of knowing how many or of what rank. If more apostles appeared, the fight could turn dire.

On top of that, I was still stuck in Eternal Feast’s Banquet Hall.

What the hell?

The reinforcements didn’t end there. Across the gray city, countless rifts tore open in the sky, each radiating a different divine presence.

He has this many reinforcements?

I clenched my teeth. None of this made sense. If that bastard could call in allies so freely, shouldn’t I also be able to summon climbers? I tried to open a portal to the rest area, but nothing happened. Panic gnawed at me.

This was bad, disastrously bad. I had believed the tower was supporting me. There was no way someone could clear this trial.

Can I even do this?

To face Eternal Feast and endure a wave of unknown enemies seemed impossible, both when considering their numbers and their strength.

My thoughts immediately leaped to Thunder Axe.

What is my sponsor doing? Can he also send help?

Unfortunately, my doubts changed nothing. From the rifts torn in the ashen sky, dozens of beams of light cascaded downward. Within those beams, silhouettes of living beings flickered.

The sight was overwhelming.

𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

What the fuck?

A few hundred figures had landed in the city, but I was left speechless. Their number didn’t shock me—it was their strength. These reinforcements were weaker than even low-ranking climbers. Not one bore the power of an apostle.

Half had come through Skyalf’s gate, and they were skeletal soldiers. Little more than bleached bones given life, like low-level skeletons from a game. Grotesque, but pitifully weak.

Is this some kind of prank?

The spectacle before me was so absurd that the thought actually crossed my mind. There were hundreds of them, yes, but none were formidable. I turned my eyes back to Eternal Feast. His face betrayed his shock. When he sensed my gaze, his focus returned, but soon twisted into a deep scowl.

He was furious.

His plan hadn’t gone as intended. I had long known that gods had formed factions. It was only natural, as thousands of years inevitably forged bonds. Eternal Feast was no different. He had called upon the gods he was close to, only to be refused.

Did Thunder Axe do this?

He was the first to come to mind.

Did he intervene from beyond my sight?

I couldn’t be sure. Regardless, one thing was certain: the situation had turned in my favor.

***

「Invisible message: Many debts remain unsettled. The gods are displeased.」

「Invisible message: Numerous gods refuse to honor repayment at this time. Gods with near-term deadlines have requested adjustments. The tower has approved their decisions.」

「Invisible message: Gods whose repayment terms are nearing may partially repay and defer the rest.」

***

Those bastards. Those fucking bastards.

Eternal Feast barely restrained the urge to howl in rage. The moment the portals had opened, he realized everything was spiraling into a farce. Nothing resembled the picture he had envisioned.

Unlike Kwon Su-Hyeok, Eternal Feast could hear the exchanges between the tower and the gods, so he retraced the sequence belatedly. That allowed him to understand why things had turned out the way they had.

Debt adjustment? Those motherfuckers! They took all they could get, and now—!

His fury rose to the point of choking him.

Most of the repayment deadlines that had lasted this long were ones he himself had allowed to be postponed. They were long past the original due dates. Also, he hadn’t even attached a clause requiring repayment at his discretion.

Otherwise, the gods would have hurried to repay their debts immediately. They were always afraid that debtors would betray them in a moment of weakness.

Instead, Eternal Feast had deliberately extended deadlines and slightly inflated the debts, whether in divinity, artifacts, or promises of future aid. For gods who lived hundreds or thousands of years, that was often a welcome bargain.

His aim had been simple—to stockpile debts that would protect him when the time came, for when he eventually ascended ranks and drew heavy scrutiny. Even then, he had extended terms carefully, weighing the present balance each time.

As a neutral god presiding over Aisengard—an asteroid well known for its hedonism—for both gods and apostles, he couldn’t afford to side wholly with one faction. Therefore, he had played both sides, laying foundations for the future. Never had he imagined it would end like this.

No, it should never have come to this.

Unlike other gods, Eternal Feast hadn’t seized worlds through illicit means. When lesser gods defaulted on their debts, he accepted worlds as repayment. Valueless realms were remade into asteroids like Aisengard, and even then, he treated their inhabitants with some measure of leniency.

It was a slower path to ascension, but in theory, it still allowed one to become a first-class god. Touching causality had been his fatal mistake, but he refused to admit fault.

Motherfuckers. Worthless trash. And now you guys abandon me?

They weren’t entirely in the wrong. If he hadn’t fallen into such a predicament, the other gods wouldn’t have pressed for debt adjustment.

Thunder Axe? No, he wouldn’t stoop to something like this.

Eternal Feast doubted Thunder Axe had directly intervened. Without a binding contract, such action would be costly. Interfering in a challenger’s trial—especially on the ninety-second floor—would require an extraordinary price.

No, those cowards are just sniffing the wind like dogs.

Kalain, though opposed to Thunder Axe, had shown no sign of moving against Kwon Su-Hyeok. The lesser gods had likewise held back, since Kalain himself hadn’t given the command. In that situation, the gods had simply chosen to watch Thunder Axe. Moreover, when Kwon Su-Hyeok eventually became a god, it would likely serve as their groundwork to draw closer to him.

After all, Kalain had conquered the tower as a challenger and shortly thereafter became a high first-class god. If Kwon Su-Hyeok did the same, Thunder Axe would have raised two.

There was no guarantee Kwon Su-Hyeok would side with Thunder Axe, but their relationship didn’t appear hostile. From the perspective of the other gods, aligning with Thunder Axe was the logical move for the future.

Eternal Feast felt dizzy, and not merely because he had lost an arm. The debts, which should have been honored without question, had been deferred. In that moment, he resented the other gods far more than his missing limb.

Yet as a god, his pride remained. He couldn’t surrender here. Grinding his teeth, Eternal Feast held his ground. He had reached out to hundreds of gods for support, spending most of his remaining divinity. Instead, he had received nothing but pathetic rabble in return.

His dissatisfaction boiled over into near-uncontrollable rage.

These assholes!

He tried to frame it in a more positive light, but it was impossible. His jaw clenched hard.

When I get out of here, I will have my revenge.

His thought never finished.

Rumble— Boom!

Kwon Su-Hyeok’s lightning fell and swept away the so-called reinforcements in an instant.

***

What is happening?

One moment ago, Eternal Feast had seethed, yet the next, his face went blank. I wondered if he was trying to deceive me, but no, it wasn’t an act.

Since Eternal Feast was still maintaining his barrier, I instead smote the approaching reinforcements with lightning. They weren’t powerful, but they could still slightly impact my allies, so it was better that I eliminated them myself.

Eternal Feast’s eyes regained focus.

What could have happened to make a third-class god lose his composure so utterly, even for an instant?

I wasn’t certain, but this battle would clearly end soon, one way or another. I had already laid my cards on the table, and so had Eternal Feast. He released the barrier encasing him, then exhaled slowly. He radiated a much sharper aura than before.

I pushed away my stray thoughts and focused wholly on the fight.

In the distance, the sounds of apostles clashing rang out, but the ashen city felt more silent than ever.

Exhaling, I gripped Soulbound tightly and launched forward.

***

「Invisible message: If Challenger Kwon Su-Hyeok defeats the third-class god ‘Eternal Feast,’ he will inherit the loser’s debts.」