Chapter 109: Star, The Winter Palace (9)

When the Myth War began, Chang-Sun naturally learned many facts about numerous Celestials, but Chang-Sun didn’t learn much about the ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ Mephistopheles. Aside from there being an named Mephistopheles, he heard nothing.

In fact, almost no one knew anything about Mephistopheles, so very little was known about him. There were many stories about him, such as how he was related to Deux Ex Machina, was investigating the beginning of the universe, and was waiting for somebody for a very long time, but they were all from unidentified sources. There was even a rumor that his name could be an alias, not his real name.

In summary, everything about Mephistopheles was a mystery, but one thing was certain. His Class was incomparably high. He was one of the few beings capable of going up against the Zodiacs, even though he didn’t care much about what happened in Heaven or the Saha World. And now, he had suddenly kidnapped Chang-Sun.

‘Where am I?’

Chang-Sun opened his eyes to a world of nothing but darkness.

It was the epitome of the terms abyss and pitch-black. He couldn’t even detect anything.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

[The Skill ‘Viper Eyes’ has been activated, scanning the area!]

[The skill activation has been canceled for an unknown reason.]

[The Skill ‘Beast Senses’ has been activated, sharpening your senses!]

[The skill activation has been canceled for an unknown reason.]

…

[The Authority ‘Kalokagathia’ has been activated, maintaining your calmness with difficulty.]

‘Is it?really a divine?ground?’?

Chang-Sun fixed his posture.

He couldn’t detect anything, not even himself, in this empty space. If he failed to pull himself together, he could get swallowed here.

The message clearly said Mephistopheles had kidnapped Chang-Sun into his divine ground, which symbolized its owner. Just as how Authority symbolized a Celestial’s myth, a divine ground represented their Divinity. However, Mephistopheles’s divine ground was neither divine nor elegant—it was simply nothing.

‘Why did he summon me here?’?

Chang-Sun wondered.

He didn’t have the slightest clue about what part of him triggered Mephistopheles. This was no different from when Mephistopheles showed interest in Chang-Sun and tested him using Jeon Choong-Jae in the Tutorial Dungeon.

At the time, Chang-Sun believed Mephistopheles was showing interest in him for his talent just like other Celestials, but he eventually realized that was never the case. No matter how much of his ability he showed, it would have looked like a bug’s talent show in Mephsitopheles’ eyes.

It was weird for a being who wasn’t interested in anything about this world to pay any kind of attention to a mere mortal in the first place. If so, then something about him had to have intrigued Mephistopheles. His interest reached its peak when Chang-Sun completed [Reinforced Skeleton].

How long did he have to wait here? What should he do to get out of here? Chang-Sun quickly thought.

[The ‘Pale Eyes’ are looking at you!]

Feeling eyes staring from every direction, Chang-Sun straightened his posture. He couldn’t even pull out [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth] even if he wanted to since he couldn’t detect anything. Still, he decided to take action if something were to happen.

Woosh!

Amid the empty space, two gigantic flames blazed up. He wasn’t sure how far they were since he didn’t have a sense of distance in this empty space, but he thought they were going to be extremely huge if he looked at them from up close. He learned they were flames since he was extremely far away, but they could be incomparably bigger than most planets for all he knew.

Chang-Sun grew tenser upon realizing those two blue flames were Mephistopheles’ eyes. Mephistopheles was just looking at Chang-Sun, but he felt like he had been tied up.

He had met countless Celestials while living as the ‘Divine Twilight,’ but he had never seen anyone like Mephistopheles. He made Chang-Sun feel certain that the rumor about Mephistopheles being as powerful as the Zodiacs was absurd. The comparison could only make sense if Mephistopheles was compared to the strongest Zodiacs, ‘Taurus’ and ‘Leo.’

Chang-Sun now knew why Minerva never bothered to quarrel with Mephistopheles about coming up with the fake . It was simply because she couldn’t. No matter how powerful a Celestial she was, she would gain nothing from fighting with Mephistopheles.

Woosh―!

The ‘eyes’ looking at Chang-Sun fiercely blazed up once more.

You.

‘… Hup!’?

Even though Mephistopheles only spoke one word, Chang-Sun instinctively held his breath. He felt an overwhelming amount of information flooding into his brain. He couldn’t begin to fathom how high Mephistopheles’ Class was. He spoke with an extensive amount of information, so there was no way Chang-Sun could somehow interpret it right now. A countless number of voices echoed so loudly in his ears that his sturdy mental barrier became unstable.

[The Authority ‘Kalokagathia’ is becoming ineffective for an unknown reason!]

Mephistopheles likely also noticed it because he flinched. He had brought Chang-Sun here to check something, but it would be a really big problem if he died from Mephsitopheles’ mistake.

[The Celestial ‘Abyss-Chasing Devil’ is trying to communicate with you.]

Mephistopheles took some time controlling something until he finally began to successfully communicate, even though his voice broke up.

Who. Are. You.

‘Who am I?’?

Chang-Sun wasn’t sure what Mephistopheles was talking about.

Who. Are. You. So. You. Abyss.

Chang-Sun was about to ask what Mephistopheles meant by ‘abyss.’

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ has descended to the ‘Pale Divine Ground’!]

Rumble!

Cutting through the darkness, a golden ray of light suddenly dropped down in front of Chang-Sun like lightning. Wearing golden holy armor and carrying a shield that was shining in pale pink light, she spread out her owl-like yellow wings. She emitted energy that no one could ignore and automatically made the darkness around her in this empty space fade away. Her halo shone so brightly that the light hurt Chang-Sun’s eyes.

‘Minerva?’?

Chang-Sun’s eyes widened, having met someone he never expected he would in this place.

Why did the great warring deity suddenly show up? They were in Mephistopheles’ divine ground, making him the absolute being in this place. That meant it wasn’t impossible for him to create a new plane here. Trespassing into this place was practically suicide, but Minerva seemed to not care about it all.

[You have received the ‘Goddess’ Blessing’!]

Paah!

A golden ray of light shone on Chang-Sun, who was covered in the darkness of this empty space, allowing him to finally see himself. His senses and cognitive ability returned to their original states. Mephistopheles’ energy and information, which had been making Chang-Sun suffer, disappeared into thin air.

『Human,』 Minerva talked to Chang-Sun using deitytongue, sounding like a charismatic warring deity. Due to her shining halo, Chang-Sun couldn’t see her face.『A mortal who will walk the path of a hero like you should not be in this place. Leave.』

Chang-Sun was going to ask what was going on, but Minerva reached out her hand before he could.

Tap!

She lightly tapped Chang-Sun’s forehead with her index finger, but he felt as if he was flying backward. At that moment, he was ‘released’ from this empty space. Having gotten far away from the plane, he faintly heard the two Celestials’ incomprehensible conversation, but he soon got too far from them to keep eavesdropping.

Minerva. Do. Not. Stop. Me.

『Pale Star! This is against the ! He is not related to what you are looking for—』

* * *

[The connection to ‘Pale Divine Ground’ has been disconnected by an unknown force!]

[Restoring the damaged data.]

…

[Reconnecting to the Player System.]

Grabbing his dizzy head, Chang-Sun gritted his teeth.

‘… What in the world was that?’

He had been a deity and a star, so he had seen many wonders hidden in the universe and planes, but he had never seen or heard anything like that.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ frivolously asks if you are hurt.]

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ wonders how the ‘Abyss-Chasing Great Devil’ could bypass the causality, sticking out his long tongue.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ widens his eyes, angry about the fact that he almost lost his subordinate.]

The other Celestials seemed to just think Mephistopheles had failed to manipulate Chang-Sun but didn’t know what actually happened or how Minerva had helped him.

‘I feel shitty.’?

Chang-Sun covered his face with his hands and unwittingly clenched his teeth, looking at the messages.

The thrill and sense of accomplishment he had felt by completing [Reinforced Skeleton] had disappeared long ago. Although he was indeed angry about Mephistopheles, he was angrier at himself for being weak and helpless against Mephistopheles when the latter tried to control him.

‘That’s it. Even if I have to overwork, I have to get stronger faster than I originally planned.’?

Chang-Sun concluded.

That was why Chang-Sun thought he should regain his old power—no, surpass his old self. Chang-Sun still wasn’t sure what Mephistopheles had seen in him, but there was no guarantee that something like today would happen again. To not be harmed by other Celestials, not just Mephistopheles, he required power that could overwhelm everyone, just like he had during the Myth War.

[The Title ‘Jigwi’s Phantom Body’ has been applied!]

Woosh―!

Spreading out the Jigwi’s wings, Chang-Sun drew up as much mana as he could. Thanks to [Reinforced Skeleton] and [Fire Heart], the Eon Fire had been upgraded, causing the to rage like a storm. Chang-Sun held [Yuchang Sword] and [Tiamat’s Snaggletooth], both of which had already revealed their true forms.

‘I’ll swallow everything in here first to get power,’?

Chang-Sun thought angrily.

He didn’t even care if he was taking out his anger on somebody else, but he felt like he had to devour all the in the Changgwi Cave as soon as he could for him to cool down.

[The Skill ‘Viper Eyes’ has been activated, looking at the target!]

Chang-Sun focused his mana in his eyes, allowing him to see much farther away. It was as if he had extended a telescope. That was when he noticed how the Hongsal King and Jeong Yoo-Jin were still fiercely fighting.

A significant amount of time had to have passed since Chang-Sun had left, considering both of them now looked noticeably tired. However, the Hongsal King seemed to be winning, just as Chang-Sun had expected. No matter how skilled Yoo-Jin was, she wasn’t strong enough to defeat the Hongsal King, an expert in single hand-to-hand combat. The Hongsal King would likely chop off Yoo-Jin’s head with his greatsword soon if Chang-Sun didn’t interfere.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

Chang-Sun himself was going to conclude the fight.

Besides, he had to ask Yoo-Jin about the [Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan].

Paah―!

Chang-Sun kicked off the ground, and a ray of red light cut through the Changgwi Cave’s air.

[19 hours 36 minutes 59 seconds remaining.]