Chapter 477: Ninety-Eighth Floor, The Abyss (2)

[Eliminate or survive against the incoming enemies. Time remaining: 165 hours 57 minutes.]

I mulled over killing the third-class god, but didn’t come to an immediate conclusion. For a while, I traded blows and thought through my next move. There was plenty of time. I could absorb power from the corpses of apostles and gods, so energy wasn’t a problem. Besides, my stamina wasn’t so low that I was exhausted. If a seven-day trial could wear me down, I wouldn’t have made it this far up the tower.

Hmm.

The most recent tedious exchange had already dragged on for more than an hour. My opponents continued to probe cautiously, trying to glean all they could from my attacks. Meanwhile, I waited for gaps and struck back, decreasing their numbers little by little. However, more continued to emerge from the depths of the Abyss than I managed to kill. Their numbers simply refused to dwindle.

That was partly why I couldn’t make up my mind right away.

Even if I take down the strongest one now.

There was no assurance that their morale would falter just because one of them fell. They had been trapped in this place for who knew how long, without promise or hope of freedom. Sure, being alive was technically better than being dead, but these weren’t mortals clinging to survival. They were gods of entire worlds, or the apostles who served them.

To such beings, being imprisoned endlessly in this dark, stagnant void was a torment far worse than death itself. Expecting them to surrender their will to fight simply out of fear was naive.

Not that I would be any different.

If our positions were reversed, I would also fight to the bitter end. Still, I had no desire to drag out a monotonous, repetitive standoff for an entire week.

Who knows how the trial may change later? Also, stubbornly maintaining this back-and-forth doesn’t feel right.

If there was anything I could attempt, I had to act now rather than wait.

After a long moment of consideration, I made up my mind. To prevent anyone from charging at me, I would have to break their spirit completely. To do that, two things were essential.

One decisive strike. If that fails, take them down quickly. No matter what happens, never show exhaustion or weakness.

That was the rule I had settled on. These weren’t noble opponents but wild, desperate hyenas.

Choosing the right target would also be critical. Up to this point, I had cut down anyone who exposed a gap, but the ones making mistakes weren’t the ones who truly mattered. Just like I had considered before, I needed to slay one of the stronger gods, someone around third-class, to make an impact. Unfortunately, taking down someone of that caliber in a single strike wouldn’t be easy.

Well, I will just have to try.

I firmed my resolve—there was no point in hesitating any longer.

Playing it safe during the early stages of a trial rarely solved anything in the long run. Even if I pushed myself to the limit just to kill one, the situation wouldn’t change dramatically anyway.

When the end of the trial drew near, desperation would drive them to attack regardless. A full-scale confrontation was inevitable. As a matter of fact, it would probably be easier to pick off the strong ones now, while they were still wary and suspicious of each other.

I can’t be sure, but they should roughly know how much time is left in the trial.

They had once been gods, after all. Before their final chance slipped away, they would no doubt come at me with everything they had.

In the time it had taken me to figure out my plan of action, I had already slain five more apostles. With my decision finalized, I slammed my foot against the ground and launched forward. My chosen target was already in sight. From what I had seen, not only were they strong, they were influential, even in this forsaken prison.

I stacked my domain onto itself four times, then activated Flash Strike three times in quick succession. I chose to save my ultimate skill—Thunderbird—for later. That would be my trump card for the trial’s climax, when the battle truly intensified.

Besides, it isn’t a skill I can sustain for seven days anyway.

Lightning flashed violently through the Abyss, splitting the darkness with its glow like shattering glass.

I charged.

The air trembled as I evaded the barrage of spells and bursts of divine energy rushing at me from every direction. In the blink of an eye, I slipped through space in a blur, appearing face-to-face with my chosen target. His expression faltered in surprise.

Clang—!

In our first clash, Soulbound met his sword head-on. His expression twisted from shock into fury. I couldn’t tell whether he thought I had underestimated him or was simply enraged at being singled out.

Doesn’t matter.

In the past, I would have twisted my wrist to deflect his strike, relying on my technique and precision. With the Star Devourer’s power coursing through me, however, I no longer needed finesse—overwhelming force would suffice. I needed to look dominant to crush him outright.

I tightened both hands around Soulbound, feeling it hum with power as it ate into his sword. The intersection between the blades sizzled as his slowly corroded away. The god grit his teeth and strained to pull his weapon free.

Rather than forcing more strength into the clash, I suddenly pulled the axe back, kept my stance low, and snapped my wrist downward. He realized too late that he couldn’t withdraw in time and lunged forward with a desperate thrust. I didn’t bother dodging.

Clang!

The impact reverberated through my arm as I caught the blade with a gauntlet-covered hand, gripping it tightly. The half-dissolved sword cracked, then broke apart, but by then, my axe was already hovering before his nose. The god tried to retreat, but I seized his arm before he could. Soulbound ignited, its blade flaring blue-gold.

Shhhhk—!

Blood erupted from the deep gash that split his body, and a surge of divinity spilled out alongside it. I immediately spun around to catch the hyena-like bastards waiting to strike my back in moments like these. The gods who had been rushing in froze mid-step. They hadn’t expected me to kill him so quickly. The sharp-eyed ones were already backing away.

I lunged again, closing in on one who had frozen awkwardly nearby, caught off guard by the sudden turn.

Teleportation makes their running meaningless.

The god barely managed to resist before falling. Another corpse hit the ground.

Hmm. I really am stronger.

My absentminded thought didn’t match the chaos around me, but I could feel that my strength had definitely increased. Back when I had fought Eternal Feast, I had barely managed to win. The tower had mentioned that the rewards of a challenger’s trial scaled with their performance, but I hadn’t fully understood what it meant. Seeing the results firsthand, my growth felt almost absurd.

No wonder Kalain had reached first-class god status in record time.

Anyway, when the second god fell, silence rippled through the Abyss. Those who had been advancing retreated a great distance and traded ground for safety. Their eyes filled with disgust and faint terror, fixed on me. Their resolve seemed to waver.

Did I succeed?

If this kept up, I would truly shatter their will entirely, just as I had planned. I launched forward again, teleporting randomly to set them on edge.

***

[Eliminate or survive against the incoming enemies. Time remaining: 151 hours 23 minutes.]

Over half a day passed, but the balance of the trial hadn’t changed much. Instead, I came to several realizations. First, the third-class god I had killed was probably stronger than he had seemed. After killing him, repeating the same tactic became increasingly difficult. The rest had learned, and their resistance grew fiercer, to the point that they began to reveal the full extent of their power.

Almost certain now.

I had never given much thought to what happened to gods after they lost their worlds and followers. My own divinity continued to build regardless, so it wasn’t a concern I had ever needed to dwell on.

On the other hand, I suspected that the divine power they possessed would fade with time. Without believers or a world to sustain them, their strength would eventually erode.

Of course, it wouldn’t vanish all at once.

Fenrike, Paraktus—and even the gods trapped here—had still been capable of wielding divinity.

I could tell because the attacks these gods unleashed in their final moments carried something beyond what I had felt from Eternal Feast. Their divine power was faint, almost depleted, but it resulted in a more dangerous final strike than expected. It even caught me off guard more than once.

Despite trying my best to avoid displaying any signs of weakness, because of that restraint, I ended up taking blows from a few gods before they died. Though the wounds healed quickly, and my armor restored itself soon after, it still gave birth to new thoughts—ones unrelated to the battle.

If not first-class, then they are at least second-class gods.

That wasn’t all I was pondering, either. Why were there so many apostles confined here? I suspected it was a case of scapegoating. In the trials I had seen throughout the tower, gods rarely directly interfered. More often than not, their apostles carried out their will.

Even when I had fought the monsters from the Void, an apostle had led the charge. It reminded me of Earth, how superiors would excuse themselves by claiming their subordinates had acted alone. In that sense, the gods weren’t so different. They invaded other worlds purely for their own gain, indifferent to the consequences.

Well, even so, a god can’t completely escape responsibility.

When things went wrong, they pinned the blame on their apostles instead. You could see it in the apostles’ fury, from their desperate rage, even when it was clear they couldn’t possibly defeat me. Of course, this was all just speculation. Even if it were true, it wasn’t as if I had the luxury to dwell on their circumstances.

I kept fighting and striking whenever openings appeared. At times, I deliberately targeted stronger ones to chip away at the rest’s morale. Unfortunately, as I had suspected, completely breaking the will of every single enemy was impossible. New foes kept pouring out of the Abyss without end.

At least fewer are charging recklessly now.

I didn’t linger in one place, constantly moving to prevent myself from being completely surrounded. Every so often, I caught glimpses of gods and apostles fighting among themselves for no clear reason. Perhaps their pride had been wounded during their tense standoffs.

Whatever the cause, it worked in my favor.

“Good,” I murmured.

Now, things had quieted slightly, a brief lull between clashes.

Whenever a god drove apostles into taking the frontlines, I prioritized killing them. Even if their morale faltered, the attacks never fully stopped, so the best way to disrupt their rhythm was to tear down their command structure. I also focused on eliminating any god who tried to restrain me from a distance.

I can’t kill them all, but they are learning their lesson.

After taking a few painful blows, they began to hesitate before attacking again.

The apostles—no longer under the control of other gods—naturally stopped charging me. There were a few moments when the prisoners attempted to coordinate simultaneous strikes, but I broke through each one, even if it meant overexerting myself.

Strangely enough, it ended up conserving more of my strength. Avoiding the countless gods’ strikes just to slowly wear them down consumed far more stamina than delivering a decisive strike and resting during the lull that followed.

Of course, that didn’t mean I could afford to relax. If they ever decided to charge with everything they had, I would lose, plain and simple. All I could do was delay that moment as long as possible.

I continued walking through the Abyss. Slowly and deliberately, I spun Soulbound through the air. Sometimes, without purpose, just to project composure and control. Staying still felt dangerous. I didn’t know what would unfold if I stopped moving. Besides, I needed to keep observing both the Abyss itself and the beings lurking within it.

A thought surfaced as I walked.

I doubt that simply outlasting the timer or breaking their morale are the only ways through this trial.

After the ninetieth floor, hidden missions had become harder to find, but they still existed.

The Abyss.

The only reason I could even enter a place like this—one that should have been impossible—was because these gods restrained each other, bound by mutual distrust. That, too, was something I could use. Perhaps a clue lay somewhere in this darkness, such as a hidden mission that could lead to something greater.

This was the ninety-eighth floor. It was immensely difficult, but if there was a hidden mission, its reward would likely surpass anything I had received before.

Well, maybe that is just wishful thinking. Maybe there isn’t a hidden mission at all.

Even so, there was no reason to give up before I knew for sure.

Keeping my senses spread to their limit, I advanced carefully. I took one step, then another. Each time I moved forward, the gods and apostles surrounding me instinctively took a step back, retreating in silence.