Chapter 378: The Place Called The Holy Ground (3)

[The Constellation Murderer has been annihilated.]

Thump.

Having lost his way, the Constellation Murderer had sunk into the garbage dump. His silver hair fluttered and flowed as if he were underwater. It looked like a tangled mass of marionette strings after they had been severed from the cross brace.

A calm voice echoed through the world.

[This world lacks its Constellation.]

[The first condition for world destruction has been met.]

[This world lacks its apostle.]

[The second condition for world destruction has been met.]

[This world lacks its followers.]

[The third condition for world destruction has been met.]

From somewhere, a beast howled.

[Warning.]

[All the conditions have been met.]

At first, the beast’s howl echoed only from the world’s edge; however, it soon closed in from all sides at a rapid pace.

The ground shook, and the garbage piles on the horizon trembled. Garbage rumbled from the mountains. This wasn’t a beast’s cry. It was the sound of the place sinking as it collapsed.

[The world is ending.]

The sunset broke into pieces. The sky became a sheet of glass and shattered into bits immediately after, each with a piece of the frozen sunset still inside.

Thuuuuuuud!

A shard of glass, the size of a quarter of the sky, fell onto a distant garbage mountain. The garbage mountain fell, spewing many plastic bottles. Billions of glass shards shattered again and again into smaller bits, each one bearing the imprint of the sunset and turning the shards red. The garbage dump now looked like blood drops sprayed into the air.

“Beautiful,” the Paladin muttered. Covered in wounds from fighting the killing puppets, she looked up at the shattered sky, clutching her arm. “It’s as if the world is blessing its own end. If this is how the world ends and this is the last sight I see, it’s not so bad...”

I could understand why she was saying that.

“Why are you just standing there and yapping?!” the Black Witch shouted. “Run, you fool! Unless you want to die from glass rain!”

“But, Anastasha, look. To run from such a sight is something a human simply shouldn’t do—”

“Don’t bullshit me! Nisha forced me to make her a promise! If I don’t bring you back safely, she’s going to make sure I won’t have any joy left in my life!” The Black Witch seized the Paladin’s wrist. “Gong-Ja, I’ll count this as my favor done for you, but I’m taking this fool back to Babylon. As for you... do as you please!”

“

Ah

, what a pity. It’s so sad. Think about it. If I must die, I want my death to be caused by the sunset stabbing me. Let me stay here a little long—”

𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

“

Teleportation!

”

The Paladin looked sad. White light soon enveloped the two women, and they vanished.

The Inquisitor saluted. “

Hmmm!

Then I shall leave as well, Master!”

Estelle bowed calmly. “Father, I’ll also get going.”

Swoosh! Swish!

One by one, my comrades and vassals fled the collapsing world until only Kim Yul and I remained. We watched the world break into red light without saying a word.

Suddenly, I realized that the two of us were the only ones left in the garden of this world. Had the Paladin rubbed off on me? I knew I should flee now that the world had reached the smallest unit needed to sustain itself, yet I wanted to stay a bit more.

“Why did it have to be a junkyard?” Kim Yul asked.

I didn’t turn my head. We stood side by side, looking up at the world’s red glow. Some needed eye contact to have a conversation, while others only had to share the same air.

“Why did it have to be this place? I don’t have good memories of home. I lost my school slippers on Wednesday and had to wear sneakers to school until Saturday. As soon as classes ended on Saturday, I came back and searched through the piles of trash around home, looking for school slippers someone may have thrown away.”

Now that it was only us in this world, Kim Yul became a little more talkative. Or maybe he hadn’t changed at all, but only came back to how he had been before, though briefly.

“I managed to find one slipper, but I couldn’t go to school wearing just one slipper, right? So I kept on searching. After Sunday, I gave up finding it. Yet, when I woke up Monday morning, a second slipper was lying on my porch. Father found it during the night.”

“I see.”

“Yes, but they didn’t match because they were different sizes. I don’t think Father stayed up that night because he was worried about me. He would have thought I was deliberately dropping hints when I was walking around the garbage dump all weekend,” Kim Yul muttered. “That’s the best memory I have of my father.”

Kim Yul undid his hair and put the hair tie back into his pocket. Only then did I turn my head to look at him. He went back to his usual, quiet self.

“The Constellation Murderer would have erased all the memories of Kim Yul. I have no idea why and how he chose to make his holy ground look like this place. It may be forgotten in his head but engraved in his soul. Is that it? It’s silly.”

“But he embroidered this view onto the Tower’s corner. Thirteen people saw it, including you and me,” I said.

I could swear I saw Kim Yul smile faintly.

“Yes. After that day, many pairs of school slippers that I would never wear ended up piled in a corner of my house. Thinking about it that way, it’s not as bad a memory as I thought.” Kim Yul nudged me with his elbow. “I’ll leave first, Patriarch. This place is no longer my home.”

Kim Yul was soon wrapped in light, and I was left alone. The horizon collapsed, and the glass shards stripped from the sky crashed into the ground, shattering. Plastic and scrap metal scattered in the wind. Darkness fell and swallowed the world from the edge.

For one last time, I looked down at the remains of the killing puppets. After one last look, I spoke the last words recorded in this world.

“Teleport me back, please.”

[Teleporting you to the eighty-first floor.]

And so the world closed its eyes, welcoming the darkness.

***

Upon returning to the eighty-first floor, the first thing to greet me was the Primordial Staff’s voice, tinged with light lethargy.

“Good work, Scream Sky. I thought you might lose this time, but you still killed the Constellation Murderer,” the Primordial Staff said, leaning her broken staff on her shoulder.

The world was still dark. In this void that would one day become my holy ground, the mage looked like a white orchid in bloom.

“You were too busy fighting to notice it, weren’t you?”

I sighed. “Busy? I wasn’t just busy. Had Raviel hesitated even slightly, I would have been trapped here forever.”

“Yeah, since you’re unaware of what’s going on outside this stage, every Constellation now in the Tower is flabbergasted because of you. The Constellation Murderer’s death was announced just moments ago.”

I shrugged. “In truth, this isn’t the first time I leave them flabbergasted. The Constellations better get used to me by now.”

“So full of yourself... You seem to be even more arrogant when I’m near. Am I imagining it?”

“Anyhow, I want to ask you something.”

The mage sighed. “You’re changing the topic. Still, losers must bear their shame. What’s the question? Is it related to the holy ground?”

“It’s about one of my Skills,

Monster Legion Reincarnation.

” I opened my hand. “Unlock the Skill Card.”

Whoosh—

Golden dust spilled out from the center of my palm, forming a card.

Monster Legion Reincarnation

Class: SSS

Effects: You are able to summon those you killed as monsters. The deceased won’t have their original abilities. However, if you wish, the deceased will have their memory and appearance. If not, they are summoned as monsters like goblins, orcs, zombies, and skeletons.

The mage looked at my card and nodded. “Right. It’s your trademark Skill, the Skill you’ve used the most. So what is left there for you to ask me about?”

“Yes, it’s about this part. ‘If not, they are summoned as monsters like goblins, orcs, zombies, and skeletons.’”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Can I decide what kind of monster they become?”

The mage blinked.

“Well...

Hmmm.

Give me a moment. Let me think about that.” She rested her chin on her hand for a moment, then glanced at me. “I don’t know why you’re asking this, but when you summon your legion as monsters, they show up as skeletons. Obviously, that’s a way to keep things balanced. Imagine if you could summon a bone dragon just because it’s another type of monster. The balance system is screwed then, so you can’t decide what kind of—”

“

Ah

, the balance system won’t be a problem,” I said with a wave of my hand. “I plan to summon them as something weaker than a skeleton.”

“Weaker than a skeleton?” The mage narrowed her eyes, having no idea what my plan was. “If that’s true, then it’s not a problem, but why? What are you planning? If it’s weaker than a skeleton, the only thing I can think of is a slime. How is that related to you building your holy ground?”

I smiled. “You’ll find out soon enough. Let’s define what a monster is first. A lifeform lacking intelligence—would that suffice?”

“It won’t be a problem, but... don’t try to play with words again. Remember, the Tower master has already shown you favor regarding your Skills. Never forget that.”

“Of course.”

“Very well. I’ll change your Skill temporarily.” The mage tapped the floor with the tip of her staff.

[Changing

Monster Legion Reincarnation.

]

[Warning.]

[The changes are temporary.]

Even though I had defeated her and her staff got broken, it seemed she could still handle a matter like this on her own.

I closed my eyes. As I felt my mind calming down, I cupped my hands together as if washing my face. The thirteen killing puppets came to mind, cast out and broken across their world not too long ago.

The more vividly I recalled them, the darker the shadows grew beneath my feet. Just as when I raided the Constellation Murderer’s holy ground, the same pitch-black arms crawled up my ankles. The only difference was the number of arms—there were thirteen pairs.

Climb a little higher.

I let the arms be. It was unclear if they sensed my intent or were driven by the shadow’s basic instincts. Still, the arms climbed up my body. I focused all my senses, guiding them to one place. The shadow arms grasped my hips, climbed up my elbows, clung to my wrists, and finally crawled into the palms of my hands. At that moment, all thirteen shadows pooled within my palms.

I said my prayer. “

Monster Legion Reincarnation.

”

[Activating the Skill.]

Jet-black shadows drawn into my palms swirled and gathered into one, slowly taking shape bit by bit.

The Primordial Staff, puzzled, watched me with parted lips. She was wondering what monster I was trying to summon, but what showed up before her was something unexpected.

“A flower?”

It was a lily of the valley, but it was rotten. Withered and shriveled, its thirteen buds drooped from the stem.

“Yes.”

I set the rotten flower down carefully so I wouldn’t hurt it. The ground of the eighty-first floor, covered with mud-like darkness, gently accepted the flower.

“This flower is alive. If the condition I need to meet to activate my Skill is to summon a lifeform that lacks intelligence, I don’t need to stick with summoning an animal.”

I planted the flower with its thirteen buds, which I had gotten from the world that ended not too long ago, to this world that had nothing but darkness yet.

“From now on, I’ll either revive them as humans or flowers.” I turned to face the mage. “This world will bloom with the rotted, decayed flowers that couldn’t bloom in other worlds. It’s only one flower now, but soon there will be hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of flowers rotting here.”

The mage was quiet.

“A garden of withered flowers.” I smiled. “That’s my holy ground.”

The mage was probably not the only one who heard my vow.

[Renaming your Skill.]

The Tower master always watched over me. She extended her touch again, as if blessing me. White light enveloped my Skill Card, revealing my Skill’s ultimate form.

Myriad Flower Garden Reincarnation

Class: SSS+

Effect: You are able to summon those you killed as monsters. The deceased won’t have their original abilities. However, if you wish, the deceased will have their memory and appearance. If not, they are summoned as a flower.

Someday, ten million flowers would dream of rebirth in this place.