Chapter 242: We Are Sitting In The Daecheongmaru Of An Old City (3)

When I opened my eyes again, I realized we were back in that white space. There was no horizon, mountains, streams, or any kind of greenery. We were standing in a three-dimensional space that looked like a sheet of drawing paper stretching out to infinity. This was the stop sandwiched between floors, our temporary base where we prepared for the next expedition.

It’s been quite a while since I was here.

Though the scenery was too bleak to feel nostalgic.

Now that I think about it, what kind of area is this?

The Mirage-Walking Princess walked past us with light steps. When she looked back at me, she had a bright smile on her face. “Are you curious?”

“It just caught my eye.”

“This is one of the worlds that Mom created using her

All Life

. Wow! I didn’t get censored one bit while saying this!”

The princess suddenly jumped up and down in excitement. It seemed like not getting censored made her very happy. “Listen! Mula-Gagamia. Gesh-ve-Nail. The security system translates everything into the language of the kingdom of the Citadel Realm if I say something that exceeds your authorization level. It’s amazing!”

[The Mirage-Walking Princess sends her praise to your authorization level.]

The princess continued to shout “amazing” to show how exceptional my authorization level was.

“The kingdom of the Citadel Realm is the world where Viscountess Amethyst lives.”

“Yup! All languages are translated in the Tower except for the one spoken in the Citadel Realm’s. You said you went to that realm thanks to your trauma penalty, right? How was it? Were you able to understand the kingdom language?”

“

Uh

, yes. I understood everything from the beginning—”

Suddenly, a possibility occurred to me.

“At that time, I possessed Advisor River Eternal. She knew the kingdom’s language, so it wasn’t a problem for me to understand what others were saying and reply to them.”

“I see.

Hmph.

”

The princess came a little closer and looked up at my face. I felt a bit uncomfortable.

“W-What is it?” I asked.

“Out of all possible people, you ended up possessing Advisor River Eternal...”

“Are we similar in any way?”

The princess stood up straight and shook her hands. “No, not at all! You don’t have anything in common. Actually, if you two meet, you’ll become enemies within three seconds!”

“It’s that bad?”

“Your personalities just don’t align, but... yeah.” The princess waved her hand in the air. White petals flew out from nowhere and swirled around her hands. “Let’s say there is an innocent child that exists within a world.”

The scene looked plucked from a fairy tale. Only white flower petals were dancing in the world of white paper, but they soon turned into a temple that sang a sacred song of life.

“To save this child, the entire world has to be destroyed. It works the same the other way around. If you leave the world as it is, the child will inevitably die.”

“Have you extremized the Immortal Happiness Preacher’s world?” I asked.

“Yes, yes, you’ve already been through that world, but you could make the choice back then because you had the power to overturn that world.”

She was right. If I didn’t have the Skill, it would have been impossible to make that choice.

“If you didn’t have that power, you would be left with these two options. Now, what would you choose in this situation? Would you rather save the child, or would you rather preserve the world?”

Hmm.

I crossed my arms. “I’m saving the child.”

“You answered immediately. Why?”

“Well, if a world could only be maintained that way, that means it’s not a good world anyway, so I have to save the child.”

The princess chuckled, but there was something peculiar mixed in her laughter—wisdom. “Yeah, you’re right. There’s not much value in that kind of world, and the person you possessed thought the same thing.”

“You mean Advisor River Eternal?”

The princess nodded. “She loves my mom so much. Well, I guess it’s closer to worship. Hmm, let’s say she’s like a priestess who wants to have the goddess all for herself.”

She grabbed my shoulder. “You better be careful, Death King.”

When I looked back, around one thousand clan members were looking at me.

“Your clan is freshly established, so it’s fine for now. Your heart is overflowing with faith and confidence. You feel like it’ll be like that forever,” the princess whispered. “But this group came together because of you. If you change or disappear, they have no reason to remain a team. You know that, right?”

The princess’ grip on my shoulder tightened.

“The Heavenly Demon Cult followers can’t tolerate Estelle. She mercilessly slaughtered others. The Constellation Murderer has been going around killing Constellations, so he wouldn’t be able to tolerate your son, Uburka. They have lived different lives in different worlds. By nature, they cannot mix.”

Her whispering resembled the hiss of a snake.

“And they aren’t going to be the final members of your clan, are they? Even you have people you delayed taking in until you figured out the right time, right? And there will be more people you want to take in, right?”

She was right.

“Deathy, as your clan grows, bigger discords will follow. The moment you disappear or become even slightly endangered—”

The princess put her hands together and spread them out.

“

Booooom.

”

She laughed as if she was having fun.

“Climbing the Tower? Helping the weak? Creating a world where everyone can bear their own wounds so no one is forced to sacrifice? That’s noble but, Deathy, if you die or get seriously hurt, those goals mean nothing to your followers. Everyone will say fuck the other worlds and will struggle to reverse what happened to you. Their scales will be so broken that a world will never be able to weigh the same as you.”

[The Mirage-Walking Princess gives you a serious warning.]

“Don’t die, Death King. Don’t get sick, don’t get kidnapped, and don’t get tortured. Don’t sacrifice yourself in vain. The blood you shed will dye your children’s hearts that much redder.”

The princess’ smile was frivolous at one glance. However, her voice was reverent as she gave me a prophecy in a white world’s fabricated temple.

“Be happy. Only when you are happy will the other clan members be happy as well. Try as hard as possible so you can be as happy as you can be. Don’t just be emotionally happy. Understand why you and your clan are doing this and how great it will be when you succeed. That is how you should be happy.”

“I understand.”

“

Hmm.

Your answer was very prompt this time as well. Are you sure you understood?”

I clenched my fists. “When other people are happy, that makes me happy too. As long as I fight for others, I will keep going. If so, there will never be a day when I stop being happy.”

The princess smiled and spun in place to hold my hands.

“Please save Mom.”

Light spread brightly from the gaps between our hands. The tremor I felt from the princess made me freeze. She used to always smile leisurely, so her being this shaken up didn’t suit her.

“Princess?”

“Please... Please,” the goddess’ daughter pleaded with teary eyes. “Save my mom... There are so many unhappy people, and they all blame Mom. Mom has to take responsibility for too many people and all their pain.”

“Princess.”

“There are already so many of them, but with each passing second, the number increases.”

I would expect so. I thought about the worlds I had traveled across before I got here, wondering how many of the commoners who had died in vain during the Demon King’s attack in the world of the Aegim Empire were the Tower master. I thought about how many of the nameless

jiangshi

who had starved to death in Teacher’s

murim

were the Tower master. What about the Immortal Happiness Preacher’s world?

In the Inquisitor’s snail empire, there were many species discriminated against and abused to death. How many of those were the Tower master? How many of the people on Earth, where I lived—

“Please.”

The daughter of a suffering goddess wept because of her mother.

“Please, please.”

[The thirty-sixth floor has opened.]

[May luck be with the warriors who climb the Tower.]

I patted the little princess’s shoulder.

“Okay. I will save her.”

The Tower’s hundredth floor was still far away. Once I reached it, I would definitely be able to do something about this request.

“It may be difficult, but hold on.”

If the goddess saved the universe, the rest of us could save the goddess. It was a simple, clear, and perfectly good plan.

“We’re strong.”

[You will be immediately teleported to the thirty-sixth floor!]

I stroked the shoulder of the princess, who was still crying, before looking straight ahead. Light seeped in from the other side of the infinite paper in a quiet explosion. The tsunami made of white easily swallowed me, Kim Yul, Sylvia Evanail, and the rest of my clan members at once.

Just before I disappeared, I smiled at the princess who would remain alone.

***

We were floating above the plains. This wasn’t the first time I floated around like a ghost, but it was really different to do it with all my clan members around me.

Anyone who sees this will think the world is coming to an end.

I looked around. Soon, groups as large as ours came into view. Soldiers from both sides of a vast plain were fighting, each carrying a different flag.

“

Oooooh

!

Kill them!”

“Don’t let them push you away! Kill them! Kill them all!”

On one side was the army of Skians, the species led by the Viper, the Rank 6th Hunter. The Skians were larger than other species, had horns sprouting from their heads, wore loose armor and used greatswords as big as themselves.

On the other side was the army of Terras, the species I led. It had been a while since I last saw them. Aside from the fact that horns didn’t grow on their foreheads, they weren’t much different from the Skians.

“Yeeeeaaaah!”

“Freaking thorns! Let’s decide who will die here today!”

“Archers! Fire!”

“Don’t let your guard down! Use the enemy corpses as shields to withstand the arrows!”

The battlefield was cruel. About twenty thousand people were killed. For a moment, my heart sank.

How many of them had lived unfair lives? And how many...

When I thought about it, the scene made me lightheaded, but I regained my composure. I stood there, facing everything without being swayed by emotions or turning away from them. As a result, I got to see something interesting.

“

Nyahahahaha!

”

On the front line of the Skian army, a swordswoman was running around, her red hair swaying in the wind. She was holding two swords and wearing a robe of some sort. Her liveliness caught everyone’s attention.

“

Oooh

! It’s the Dancing Sword!”

“I believe so,

oi

—!”

The Skians who cheered rather resembled the typical, rough sailors, but this Dancing Sword... It was as if she were a comic book character drawn in a different style. But the bigger problem was...

Ubburka nudged my shoulder. “Daddy.”

“Yup.”

“Could that be...”

I avoided eye contact. It was just a little while ago that I decided to face everything and not ignore it, but I still found myself wanting to look away in this situation. Nevertheless, Kim Yul, standing next to me, was heartless. He muttered, “That one is possessed.”

“Don’t say it....”

“Perhaps it’s because I’m no different from a ghost right now, but I can see an image of a middle-aged man possessing that woman running wild on the battlefield.”

“

Uuuuuuuugh

! Don’t say that!”

He was right! I could see the faint image of Viper in that Skian swordswoman running around the battlefield! In other words, the woman was actually the Viper!

Sylvia pulled my sleeve. “Patriarch.”

“What?”

“She... isn’t the only one...”

“She’s... not?”

“Over there. No, don’t look away. Look over there. Yes, riiiiiiight there.”

Sylvia grabbed my head and forced me to look in the direction of the front lines of the Skian army.

“

Oi, oi

, this leaves me no choice. I have to step in.”

Adjusting his gloves, a Skian boy who was way more slender than the other Skians walked out holding two swords. I could also see the Viper in him.

“

Hahaha

! Indeed, indeed. It’s time for us to step up!”

A pigtail girl, who was more petite than the other Skians, came out, holding two swords. Her tone was like that of a novel’s main character. Of course, this one was also the Viper.

“

Phew...

That’s why we’re here, right?”

A young Skian walked out, holding a scythe for some reason. His appearance was so sharp that it looked like his jawline could cut cake. Obviously, he was also the Viper.

“Hmm.”

Seven different Skians showed up from all directions.

“We, the Seven Skian Heroes, will take care of this battle,” they said in unison.

People Possession

Grade: SSS

Effect: You can possess the character of your choice. If that character dies, you return to your spirit form.

Cost: Not for sale (This is a special reward.)

※ You can only possess a person within one minute after death.

I had no choice but to shout, “What the hell are you doing, Mister?”