Chapter 129: Desert Warrior and Water Dancer

“

Huh?!

”

God-Maker vibrated suddenly, seemingly responding to my question.

I picked it up nervously. “

Ah

, it’s Il-Ho.”

I let out a sigh, feeling both disappointment and relief. I’d been meaning to check in on him for a while now.

How’s the 42nd

floor coming along?

I launched God-Maker.

Ding!

[Welcome to God-Maker, O’ Almighty God. With your growing number of followers, you have three channels to access.]

-----

[Gayami nation, Antrinia: Holy Empress Anty and Gayami followers]

[The Forty-First Floor of Tower of Warriors: Fairy Queen Aran and Fairy followers]

[The Forty-Second Floor of Tower of Warriors: Warrior and Temporary Apostle Il-Ho]

-----

I clicked on the third channel.

Whiiiir!

A desolate, vast desert stretched out before me, accompanied by dry, sandy wind.

***

Whiiiir!

Draped in white cloth, Il-Ho wandered through a sandy expanse that stretched beyond the horizon. With the handkerchief given by God Yu Il-Shin in his hand, he struggled against the fierce desert winds.

He had been walking for several days on end now, but he still hadn’t found the end of the desert. He was transported here after clearing the Forty-First Floor of the Tower of Warriors: Save the Fairy Queen.

[The Forty-Second Floor of the Tower of Warriors: Trial of Space and Time.]

[Clear conditions: Save the Water Dancer from their crisis.]

The name made Il-Ho assume that the quest was related to water, but...

“There’s only sand here.”

Feeling gloomy, he sighed deeply.

In this endless desert, fighting a strong enemy was probably a hundred times easier than finding the Water Dancer. Il-Ho’s Steel Body could withstand even the strongest of flames, but having lived in the forest his entire life, he couldn’t get used to the harshness of the desert.

Il-Ho looked up at the cloudless sky. “There are two suns?”

Rooooar!

One of the suns was many times larger than the other and even spewed ominous flames. Could that be the origin of this desert?

“

Haa...

This is bad.”

Il-Ho was nervous. He’d sweated so much that it felt as if his muscles had shrunk.

He scanned his surroundings cautiously and then reached into the air.

“Inventory.”

Moments later, he pulled out a water bottle thousands of times larger than him. On the bottle, the word “Samdasoo[1]” was written in the god’s language[2]. God Yu Il-Shin had given it to him so that he could quench his thirst. His god truly was generous!

“Thank you, O’ almighty and merciful God Yu Il-Shin.”

After complimenting Yu Il-Shin reverently, Il-Ho struggled to open the giant bottle of water.

-

Kieeee!

Along with an eerie screech, a mysterious red bird appeared in the sky. It resembled a bald eagle that had a fiery crown on its head.

“You water thief! You’re back again!” Il-Ho glared furiously at the bird.

He hadn’t been able to drink water in peace for days because it kept appearing every time! It was the cause of his muscle loss!

Claaang!

Il-Ho drew the dumbbell sword on his back.

“I’ll definitely kill you this time, Thief!”

-

Kieeee!

As if mocking him, the red bird circled in the sky a few more times before vigorously flapping its wings.

Baaaam!

A raging sandstorm came at Il-Ho like a huge tornado. The handkerchief that he had draped over him was caught in the wind and blown away.

“

Keugh!

”

Crouching close to the ground, he increased the weight of his dumbbells to avoid being swept away. He didn’t know how long it lasted, but the sandstorm eventually passed.

-

Kieeee~!

Just then, he spotted the mysterious bird flying away in the distance, clutching Il-Ho’s precious bottle of water in its claws.

The veins on his bald head burst. “That water thief! You won’t get away this time! Ultimate skill, Super Strong Body!”

Throb throb!

The muscles on his arms bulged, compressing in an instant. Stomping ferociously, Il-Ho charged forward, throwing the dumbbell into the air like a javelin athlete.

“

Muuuuscles!

”

-Kieeeek! Kieeek~!

The bird opened its beak, cackling at Il-Ho. However, in the next second, the dumbbell hit it in the head at tremendous speed.

Pwoosh!

“Yes! Bullseye!”

The mysterious bird crashed into the ground, and Il-Ho hurried over.

“

Kekeke!

That’s what you get for stealing my water!”

The headless bird lay upside down in the sand dunes.

“Oh right! The precious holy water that God Yu Il-Shin gave me!”

Il-Ho looked around him in panic. He spotted the bottle stuck in the ground not too far from him.

“

Ugh!

” Il-Ho grabbed the lid and pulled the bottle out from the sand.

Pop!

“

Huh?

”

The bottle felt weightless.

Il-Ho stared at the empty bottle in disbelief. The bird’s claws had torn its side open.

“You

bastaaaaard!

”

Il-Ho’s anger reached a new height. That was the last of God Yu Il-Shin’s holy water!

“I’m not letting you off!”

He blew his lid over the bird’s corpse.

-

Kieeee~!

Nevertheless, the mysterious,

headless

bird somehow soared into the sky. He wasn’t sure what magic it had used, but watching that darn thief mocking him as it escaped made his blood boil.

He pounded his chest in frustration.

“My bottle of holy water!” Il-Ho sobbed, clutching the empty bottle in hand.

Yu Il-Shin would grant him more holy water if he asked, but he was too afraid to. Instead, he tapped the empty bottle helplessly, hoping for even just a droplet of water.

-

Haa!

I-isn’t this water?

Shake shake!

A strange voice came from the dune where the water had spilled onto.

“An enemy?!” Il-Ho flexed his muscles once more and assumed a fighting stance.

Pop!

Soon after, a skinny, green little girl with spiky hair burst through the sand.

“

Huhuhu

. Please give me more water, Uncle...”

“...?”

***

I’m going through a crazy experience right now!

-

Hoyeaaah!

Water! It’s too good to be true!

No, let me correct that. This is batshit crazy.

Trickle!

I was so close to committing the atrocity of pouring a kettle on my phone—onto a bizarre creature of the desert in God-Maker, to be precise.

While doing nothing but incomprehensible actions, its four limbs creaked like those of a robot.

God-Maker reacted.

Ding!

[Water Dancer has taken a liking to you.]

[Water Dancer offers a dance of joy in exchange for your precious water.]

That weird action is a dance?!

The more I looked at her, the stranger she appeared. She was the size of a pint; had pale green skin; and had spiky, porcupine-like hair. She was like a half-human, half-plant.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say she looks like a cactus.

Still, was it okay to water a cactus this much?

-

Hawaaa!

I haven’t had water in years! Thank you so much, Uncle!

The cactus girl looked at me with sparkling green eyes.

Interestingly enough, even though I should’ve looked like a colossal monster to her, she didn’t find me scary.

-

Huh?!

Uncle?! How dare you disrespect our great God Yu Il-Shin!

Il-Ho’s yell made the cactus girl flinch in fear.

-

Eek!

I-I’m sorry...

“It’s fine, Il-Ho.”

I don’t want to see her all frightened and running away.

I didn’t really mind being called “uncle” by a cactus girl, anyway.

“So, this is the Water Dancer? Isn’t that great? You’ll be able to clear this floor soon.”

The clear condition of the trial on the 42nd floor was to save this cactus girl. Knowing Il-Ho had been traversing this vast desert for days, I congratulated him on finally finding the Water Dancer.

He had a strange look on his face, though.

“What’s wrong, Il-Ho?”

Il-Ho chose his words carefully.

-

Uhm

, Lord Yu Il-Shin. I actually called you because I had something to discuss. I was wondering if you could share your wisdom with me...

“

Hmm?

What’s the matter?”

Il-Ho pointed to the sky.

I looked at the sky, finding two suns in different sizes.

One was the size of a golf ball, and the other was as large as a basketball. Il-Ho was pointing to the bigger one, which seemed to be exuding ominous energy.

“How do I get rid of that sun? I can’t think of a way to do so with my thickhead.”

Huh? What did he just say?

The Water Dancer followed suit, getting on her knees and crying out earnestly.

-

Unc

—no, Great God! Please get rid of that evil sun that has turned our world into a desert!

I was perplexed.

Uh, kids? Did you just suggest that we get rid of the sun?

***

Holy Nation of Gayami.

Akdol yawned, his mouth stretching to the fullest. After that terrifying evil god kidnapped him into this strange world, he initially thought he’d be killed. However, it turned out to be quite a liveable location.

“

Ack!

It’s Akdol!”

“O’ great and merciful God Yu Il-Shin’s divine beast Akdol!

Puck puck!

”

The servants and handmaidens prayed as they saw Akdol leisurely enjoying his mud bath in his place of rest.

-

Krr.

Akdol nodded in arrogance, even giving them a short wave.

“

Waah!

The divine beast Akdol has blessed us!”

Ssss!

Just then, a pure white aura shone from Akdol’s chest. Though faint, the divine power from the people of the Gayami nation began to seep into him.

-

Kr, krr.

Akdol let out a sinister laugh. That malicious god had drained most of his power, reducing him to a tall, three-headed being. Still, he vowed to recover his strength, escape this place, and avenge his mother! He would eradicate Yu Il-Shin and Gayami, his sanctuary!

Suddenly, a white-haired girl with a bright smile flashed in his mind.

“Hehe, my cute Akdol. Would you like to try this?”

-

Krr.

Well, as long as the cute little Anty was with him, he’d cut Yu Il-Shin some slack.

Grrr!

Recalling Anty instinctively made him hungry. Wondering if he could have trout again today, he prepared to leave the pond and look for Anty.

-

Krr?

His eyes widened as he looked around. He felt an extremely familiar aura.

No way!

He was in Antrinia, the world in God-Maker, not the real world?! At the very least, he was certain that this wasn’t an illusion.

They could be far apart, but there was no way Akdol wouldn’t recognize the aura of his blood siblings. Moreover, there wasn’t just one or two of them.

1. A brand of bottled water in Korea, 삼다수 ☜

𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

2. AKA, human language ☜