Chapter 331: Chapter 329

[Young Master. Is the avatar production proceeding without issue?]

While Yoo Jinho and Woo Jinchul were dealing with the top-tier Hunters, Suho was busy moving back and forth through the Shadow Dungeon, managing the practical matters.

[Thanks to Arsha's worker bees evolving into Void Insects, the speed has increased significantly.]

Now, Harmakan no longer needed to individually open small cracks for Arsha's worker bees, as the Void Insects themselves were traversing the dimensional rifts, gathering pollen. It was truly remarkable that mere insects could now freely traverse the Void, the dimensional rifts, the dangerous cracks of chaos itself, a feat that should have resulted in them being instantly crushed by the distorted dimensional pressure.

[Evolution is truly a wondrous thing. Now, Arsha's worker bees have become extremely resilient, able to fly through the void without any problem.] Harmakan, who was diligently crafting avatars, bowed to Suho and murmured with a somewhat bitter tone. Then, a seductive voice came from somewhere.

[Oh my, what's this? You're actually praising me.]

Whoosh-

Suddenly, small insects, emitting light like fireflies, appeared in the air. Then, in an instant, they coalesced, taking on Arsha's form, Harmakan clicked his tongue.

[Tsk. You are always swarming everywhere like an insect.]

[That's because I am...] Arsha shrugged, a bewitching smile on her lips.

[I made my nest in the center of that dimension of death, the Sea of the Afterlife, so traversing the void is hardly a dangerous feat. Besides, the World Tree conveniently has its roots extending across all dimensions, so by traveling along those, I can freely move between any dimension, like this.]

[Like a cockroach.]

[A cockroach?! I still look like a bee, you know? A very pretty bee that glows like a firefly.]

[Ridiculous. You're still just as weak, yet you boast about such a trivial thing.]

Arsha frowned delicately, folding her arms. The minor bickering between the two had become a familiar occurrence lately. It was a trivial squabble, but from Harmakan's perspective, Arsha's evolution into Void Insects was understandably a bit irritating. Originally, manipulating dimensional cracks and creating Gates was the exclusive domain of the Demonic spirits. Of course, at the Monarch level, one could forcefully tear through the dimensional walls with brute strength. But the Demonic spirits could create Gates with far more precision and on a much larger scale through their advanced sorcery. This was strategically utilized in warfare in many different ways. After all, even the mighty Dragon King Antares had entrusted all matters related to spatial movement to Yogumunt King of Demonic Spectres and the Monarch of Transfiguration during his war with Sung Jinwoo.

'But mere insects...' Arsha's Void Insects had evolved to be able to use that difficult ability as naturally as breathing... It was only natural that Harmakan, a former Great Chieftain, would be displeased.

[Hmph. Still, thanks to me, the workload has certainly decreased, hasn't it?]

[...Well, as someone serving the same master, the more the merrier. It allows me to focus on more important tasks. Now, hand over the materials for the avatars and be gone.]

[Yes, sir-]

At those words, Arsha promptly dispersed into numerous Void Insects, handing over the pollen they had gathered to Harmakan. Who received them stoically, wrapping them in a magical circle. And then:

Compression.

Regeneration.

Acceleration.

And...

[Replication.]

Fwoosh—

As Harmakan's skeletal hands opened, new avatars were born: soulless, egoless dolls in human form, lacking distinct facial features. Such avatars, already numbering in the hundreds, even thousands, had accumulated in the Shadow Dungeon, an overwhelming quantity, yet it was still insufficient...

Suho's ultimate goal was to create as many avatars as there were humans living on Earth. To achieve that, they needed to produce avatars at a rate dozens, no... hundreds of times faster than now. Harmakan urged Arsha.

[It's still not enough. Hurry up, expand the hive, and increase the number of worker bees. Also if possible, collect pollen from the World Tree, not Elvenwoods. It's more efficient.]

The primary ingredient for the avatars studied by the Apostle of Evolution was the pollen of Elvenwood. But if they used that of the World Tree as a substitute, they could produce far more avatars. It was something the Apostle of Evolution had only theoretically considered, lacking the opportunity to research the World Tree, but now all his knowledge belonged to Beru. And the execution was done by Harmakan. But it was not so simple in reality...

Nidhögg was constantly trying to descend to the base of the World Tree, climbing up to collect pollen was too dangerous. If they were too greedy, and it went berserk, the hive they had so painstakingly expanded could be destroyed.

[Don't worry. Thanks to others keeping Nidhögg in check, we are carefully climbing upwards.]

[I understand, so hurry and disperse. That is all you can do for our master.]

[Hehe. I'll work hard. Then... Master! I'm off—!]

Whoosh-!

Arsha, unfazed by Harmakan's growling attitude, smiled brightly at Suho and vanished into the void. Suho chuckled at the sight, then gave an order to Harmakan, who was looking at the spot where Arsha had disappeared with a displeased expression.

"Send the completed avatars to the Tower of Trials immediately."

[Yes.]

Fwoosh-!

As soon as Suho gave his permission, the soulless avatars were sent through the magical circle drawn on the floor to the giant pyramid standing in the center of the Shadow Dungeon.

'The Tower of Trials.'

The giant pyramid, presented to Suho by Ammut after he became the King of Monstrous Humanoids, the Monarch of Trials, was no longer called the Iron Body Training Center. In fact, Ammut had intended to use the Tower of Trials to train Suho far more harshly than ever before. A course of action befitting the name, Monarch of Trials. And in line with his ambition, the Pyramid had been enhanced to inflict any number of harsh trials upon Suho, according to Ammut's will. That power was, in itself, the 'authority' granted to the Monarch of Trials. If Ammut's pyramid had previously been just a complex labyrinth with mummies roaming around, it had now transformed into a tower capable of inflicting any number of harsh trials to train Suho 'by any means necessary'. But when he learned how the Tower of Trials had changed, a very good idea came to his mind.

'I can't just keep this 'amazing thing'... all to myself.'

Immediately, Suho ordered Harmakan to open Gates in city centers all over the world and to create a massive illusion in all of those places.

[Tutorial: Tower of Trials]

Thus, all the Towers of Trials that people around the world were now seeing were created. The actual pyramid existed only here, in the center of the Shadow Dungeon. But simultaneously, its image could be seen as an illusion all over the world. Suho had a specific purpose for showing the image of the Tower of Trials to people around the world as an 'illusion.' In other words, what appeared all over the world was a kind of base station.

'Dimensional Gates.'

Their true function was to summon the spirits of players who entered the game capsules from all over the world into the Shadow Dungeon, and to bring them to the real Tower of Trials. Those players, through a method called astral projection, would possess the waiting avatars and undergo 'trials'. And those trials were...

* * *

Fwoosh-

Just then, Woo Jinchul, having finished the meeting with the various association presidents, returned to the Shadow Dungeon. However in a different way than Suho. He hadn't entered through a Gate like him, but had simply laid down in a game capsule outside the dungeon. At that moment, Woo Jinchul's spirit possessed the avatar Harmakan had prepared for him in advance, connecting him to the Shadow Dungeon. It just so happened that Woo Jinchul's avatar's location was next to Suho, not in the Tower of Trials.

"Ah, Association President. How did it go?"

"The meeting just ended, so I came straight here. By the way, this avatar thing is amazing, no matter how many times I experience it."

Woo Jinchul's avatar, answering Suho's question, was a little special. While all others didn't yet have defined facial features, Woo Jinchul's avatar closely resembled his usual appearance. He felt no sense of incongruity, even though it wasn't his real body. Woo Jinchul touched his avatar again, marveling.

"It's truly amazing. It's exactly like my body in its prime. It's as if I've gone back in time."

[That's because complete healing and regeneration are fundamental. It's similar to the feeling of becoming a Shadow Soldier.] Beru, who had contributed the most to the creation of the avatars, puffed up with pride. Then, in a sly tone, he draped an arm over Woo Jinchul's shoulder and whispered.

[So, what do you think? When your lifespan comes to an end, how about becoming a Shadow Soldier?]

"Haha... I'll think about that... a little later..."

[I see. You haven't even gotten married yet, so it's far too early to become a Shadow Soldier; review it slowly and positively. The King will surely make great use of you.]

"Hahaha..." Woo Jinchul laughed awkwardly, pointedly avoiding Beru's blatant gaze. Then, looking at Suho, he spoke with a serious expression.

"More importantly, as expected, Thomas Andre was the first to connect to the Tower of Trials."

"Really?" Suho's eyes lit up.

Thomas Andre already knew the general situation from Suho. But experiencing it firsthand would be completely different. He couldn't help but wonder what he would think, what he would feel. No matter how strong the Hunter Thomas Andre was, inside the Tower of Trials, he was just a level 1 avatar. And the 'trials' to develop that avatar were waiting for him.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"...Then he's already seen the 'future', hasn't he?"

'Future'

All players who entered the Tower of Trials were set up to see the 'future' of Earth first. It was an illusion, a nightmare depicting a thoroughly ruined word where everything had been destroyed. The wide-area illusion 'Mirage' that Javier had once created in the waters off Busan... Harmakan, the Great Chieftain of the Demonic spirits, could easily use a similar, high-level illusion. While it wouldn't be exactly the same as that spell, he could certainly achieve a similar result. And, by utilizing the functions of the Tower of Trials, overseen by Ammut, he could create an even more realistic illusion. So, all the players who saw that 'future' would witness a cruel death of a precious person from their memories. It was Harmakan's curse, designed to evoke anger and sorrow from the depths of their hearts, even though people knew that the sight before their eyes wasn't real. It was merely an illusion. In other words, it was just content to help them immerse themselves in the 'game' that was about to begin. After all, the real trials began after that. Woo Jinchul raised the corners of his mouth, thinking of Thomas Andre's reaction, who must be very confused inside the Tower of Trials right now.

"I'm very much looking forward to it. All the memories that Hunter Sung Jinwoo showed me directly inside my head... I wonder how he'll take it."

* * *

[Do you wish to load the saved data?]

(Y/N)

"...Alright, let's see what you've prepared."

Thomas Andre gritted his teeth, thinking of Yoo Jinho's brazen face. Having just witnessed the dying illusion of his only friend, Norma Selner, he was extremely angry. To the point where he wanted to rush out of the capsule and storm into Ajin Soft right away. But at the same time, he couldn't help but be curious...

Why were they going to such lengths to show players this utterly ruined future?

And...

What awaited him after this?

"Yes." He answered with a grim expression...

Norma Selner, dying before him, smiled faintly.

"Good. Now go there... and protect it. In 'his' stead..."

"His?"

Thomas Andre frowned at Norma Selner's cryptic words. And at that moment...

Whoosh...!

The destroyed word he had been seeing began to melt away. Everything, all the ruins, were engulfed in shadows. And...

A pitch-black darkness swallowed Thomas Andre.

Flash!

"Hm?"

...He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.

"Where is this?"

Thomas Andre rose from the bed with a bewildered expression. And he looked at the mirror hanging in the corner of the room.

"Wh-what is this?!" He couldn't help but exclaim in shock at his own appearance.

"Why does my avatar look like this?!"

It was only natural to be confused. He was Thomas Andre, the strongest human! Born in the slums, he had reigned as the strongest from a young age! The owner of a superior genetic makeup, whose muscles grew just by breathing, and bulking up happened just by drinking water!

'But who was that scrawny, pathetic wimp in the mirror!' To think that such a weak, sorry body was the avatar given to him...!

"And there aren't even any features?"

His face was as smooth as an egg! This was a tutorial, yet he had entered an avatar that didn't even allow for character customization! He wouldn't have cared if he hadn't looked in the mirror, but the unsettling feeling wouldn't go away now. Then...

Bang!

"B-Brother...!"

Suddenly, the door opened, and someone burst into his room.

"Who are you!"

Thomas Andre, already irritated, roared, but he froze at the response.

"Brother, what do we do..."

The person who burst into the room was an unknown young girl. But it wasn't her identity that stopped him. It was the way she was looking at Thomas Andre, tears streaming down her face.

"Mom collapsed... It's the Eternal Slumber..."

"...What?"

And before Thomas Andre could even react, the young girl collapsed to the floor, sobbing. Heartbreakingly, pitifully. And at that moment...

Ting!

[Loading saved data.]

"...?!"

Unfamiliar memories began to flood Thomas Andre's mind.

'Th-this is...!' He realized... The name of the young girl, crying so sorrowfully...

'Sung Jinah.'

She was 'His' one and only younger sister.