Two Tracks

“I repeat once more. To the place where thousands of paths diverge. Please come to the Grand Labyrinth on the 59th floor of the Tower of Covenant. Bring everything with you. Mugwort, peach branches, wind reed leaves, glass stones, malphi… whatever. Anything related to magic. There will be no next time. If we cannot win now, the world will perish. Please lend us your strength.”

I spoke without pause.

“I repeat once more.”

-It’s… it’s no good now. The signal can no longer be picked up. Even with my authority, I can’t maintain the communication anymore.

Until Nadia informed me in a dejected voice.

“Did it get through properly?”

-I can’t be certain. The Outer God really seems determined. The communication network started collapsing the moment we began broadcasting. It probably got through, but… there would have been severe noise. Someone must have heard it. But most probably couldn’t hear it properly.

Sigh…

A sigh escaped me. Should I take comfort in the fact that any broadcast went out at all?

“Right. Looking at that mess, I can see just how recklessly the Outer God is acting.”

The broadcast we had started immediately upon returning to Ragnarok’s holy ground after the war ended.

Before our eyes, the Well of Wisdom Mimir was rippling.

No… surging,

No… sloshing,

And now it had completely hardened like mud.

It meant only one thing.

“To think it would completely destroy the main network’s server.”

The main network. Thanks to the main network’s existence, which could directly download information from the Akashic Records, egos had been able to assist gods in managing and coordinating the world. Even though it had been corrupted by the Outer God, the main network’s existence was what had made ‘broadcasts’ and communication between relic sites possible.

The Outer God had destroyed that main network.

What was truly unexpected about this was that the main network served as not only our weapon but also the Outer God’s weapon. The Outer God that had been monitoring the world through the main network until now… to think it would destroy its own weapon?

‘…Would it rather suffer a loss of two to prevent me from gaining one?’

Clear hostility. The determination to take my flesh even if it meant breaking its own massive bone. The confidence that it could strip away all my flesh before one of its massive bones broke.

Really… every single thing about this bastard is irritating, isn’t it?

“Sigh. Anyway, we’ll have to end the broadcast here. Everyone, let’s go outside. The Well of Wisdom Mimir has been completely destroyed. We don’t need to guard it anymore.”

Having confirmed even the cross-section with Monggu’s gift <Dimensional Severance>, there was no doubt.

Thus another trace of the mythological era had vanished.

I emerged from the passage with the mages who had been guarding the well, where all the executives of Pathfinder had already gathered. Not just the existing Pathfinder members, but with Ragnarok, the Knight Order, and Society combined, the number of executives was considerable.

Since time was short, we sat down right there and immediately began the meeting.

“The Outer God is using any means necessary. The bastard has already abandoned its desire to seize control of the world with this opportunity.”

“Hmm? Then what exactly is the Outer God trying to achieve…?”

Wizard of Rebirth Walrot asked.

I answered calmly.

“Instead, it’s trying to annihilate humanity with this opportunity.”

A plan to annihilate humanity, then spend tens of thousands of years preparing again to devour the world. If only humanity, which can use the gods’ legacy, disappears, nothing will remain to interfere, so next time it can certainly devour the world.

“Then…”

“Yes. From now on, it’s total war. If we achieve victory in this fight, humanity will secure at least tens of thousands more years. Furthermore, if we drive that bastard from this world…”

I lowered my voice, gathered my breath, then spoke forcefully.

“We might be able to complete the incomplete creation and build a new world where we no longer need to fear destruction and calamity. With the power of knights and our mages.”

Shudder—

Everyone must have felt a thrill, but those who showed visible emotion by trembling at their shoulders were the knights and Society wizards.

Unlike the other wizards who had been with me and heard various stories, to them, each word I spoke was a secret they had never imagined, fragments of the truth they had searched for their entire lives.

“So you’re saying we just need to hold out.”

Walrot spoke with a tense but slightly confident voice.

The Outer God is strong. But there are great constraints on its direct movement. What we need to be immediately wary of are the Outer God’s apostles. But we’ve already fought and defeated an apostle once.

Well… wasn’t he thinking such soft thoughts?

Unfortunately, the world we live in doesn’t work out as desired.

“No. Holding out won’t be enough. This time too. No, from now on continuously, we must strike first.”

“Why is that?”

Doom Knight Zeros asked. Instead of answering, I stared at him intently.

“What? Why aren’t you explaining and just staring…?”

He complained, but I still didn’t give him an answer. Then the other wizards fell into deep thought and either nodded or looked puzzled. Zeros scowled.

“Damn! Mage-style conversation.”

Sometimes mages skip lengthy explanations. To avoid making the weak sounds that magical powers dislike. So when one mage glosses over an explanation, other mages deduce the reason themselves and accept it.

“Ah, right. I think I get it too! You’re saying if we just keep holding out, we’ll inevitably lose in the end, aren’t you? But what I’m curious about is why you think that! What’s the basis? Ah, this is really frustrating! Stop making me read the atmosphere and give me a clear answer! This is why mages are…!”

I maintained silence for a moment. Seeming unrelated to Zeros’s question, I waited long enough before pointing at the sky.

Among the Grand Labyrinth’s various skies, I pointed to the ‘real sky’ outside the tower. At the stars moving slowly… yet fast enough to be visible.

“Ah…”

“As expected…”

Exclamations came first from the wizards’ mouths.

“What’s wrong with that sky… huh?”

Zeros, who had been frowning deeply, suddenly opened his eyes wide and looked up at the sky. His pupils wavered.

I continued speaking while maintaining as much composure as possible.

“The Magic Emperor, who called himself the world’s guardian, has died… and two apostles who were secretly destroying the world have died. By calculation, it’s our victory. The scales have tipped in our favor. But that also means the balance has been broken.”

If the Outer God’s side had won, the stairs and gates would have collapsed again and the continents would have shattered and scattered even further.

But because we won instead… the stars that had been splitting apart and moving away began drawing closer. Several torn continents would merge back into a single continent, and the stairs and gates that had lost their function would be restored.

Of course, it was good news. For our world. But for the humans living on it? This was nothing but another disaster.

Such events would become commonplace from now on. When the Outer God’s power was strong, the world would tear apart; when our power was strong, the world would merge. If we continued such back-and-forth battles… could humanity truly survive those upheavals?

“Fighting the Outer God requires massive resources. Just in the war against the fifth apostle, we exhausted most of the resources Pathfinder and Ragnarok had gathered. But that’s not all. To survive the chaos of stars merging and separating, we need all kinds of magical materials. Even after all these battles end, humanity will need resources to rebuild civilization.”

I stopped speaking exactly there. Fortunately, Zeros understood what I was trying to say. He nodded weakly.

“In the end… we need to settle the fight before humanity’s accumulated resources run out… The other side is undying and immortal, while we have a predetermined end as… mortals, humans.”

Those were his exact words.

But since I couldn’t admit to being mortal myself, I didn’t answer and instead looked around at the executives gathered here.

I made eye contact with each of them.

“And we must disperse our forces.”

“Ha… of course. Someone has to procure resources for war and protect people from the changing world.”

Pan-Dalus answered with a bitter smile.

Right. The <Horus’s Tears of Blood> that Floating Island Sion used this time and the Shadow Library’s weapons required Philosopher’s Stones and various precious magical materials. Even the equipment for mages to participate in battle requires massive resources.

Though we had sent a broadcast requesting help from around the world, its effectiveness would be limited due to the Outer God’s interference. There would certainly be difficulties with continuous resource procurement.

The answer was only one.

We had to dispatch mages everywhere.

We had to have them protect people and gather resources to send to the front lines.

For this work, we needed people who were very powerful… and absolutely trustworthy.

That’s why both Pan-Dalus and I smiled bitterly.

“I’ll go.”

Wizard of Domestication Pan-Dalus raised his hand while keeping his bitter smile.

“My abilities are actually more suited to rear support than frontline fighting. I’ll tame as many phenomena and calamities as possible and send them to the front lines.”

Well… did rear support really not require combat power?

I thought the opposite, but that’s exactly why Pan-Dalus was the right person. While capable of excellent rear support, his individual combat power was also outstanding among 6th Circle wizards.

No matter how I looked at it… there was no one more suitable.

“The Chairman can’t do it alone. We’ll need several more… I should stay behind too.”

The next person to raise their hand was Wizard of Refinement Oh Si-jin. This was also an entirely appropriate choice.

The first person who came to mind when I initially thought about dispersing forces.

But…

Now that I really wouldn’t be fighting alongside them, I felt strangely empty, like a wing had been broken.

Others volunteered and others made recommendations after that.

Some mages ended up in the attack group despite their personal hopes, while others were assigned to rear support and defense despite their preferences.

Sometimes debating, sometimes arguing, we concluded the intense initial personnel selection, when Refinement Oh Si-jin raised his hand and made a suggestion.

“I’d like to make one promise.”

He stood up and pointed to the wizards who would be in the defense group with him.

“I’d like to completely separate our roles. The defense group will handle defense and supply duties among ourselves.”

“…Among yourselves, you mean?”

“No matter what happens, we won’t request support from the attack group.”

Oh Si-jin’s statement caused a major stir.

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

“The Outer God will definitely try to cut off rear supplies. We could be picked off one by one!”

Listening to the pouring criticism, Oh Si-jin smiled coldly.

“So what?”

“What do you mean, so what…!”

The flustered voice was cut off sharply by Oh Si-jin.

“Not being defeated is our mission. We can’t whine to the attack group that’s jumping into the heart of enemy territory just because we failed. No… the attack group shouldn’t even know about our situation.”

Huh? Not just no support requests, but they shouldn’t even know our situation?

Oh Si-jin’s gaze pierced into me.

“Of course. Think about who you’re facing. Our only method to defeat such a massive existence is to gather all our will into one point and pierce through. You can’t let your will leak out through worry about the rear.”

Oh Si-jin placed his small hand on my shoulder.

“So. Trust us. We’ll absolutely protect the rear. We’ll somehow maintain the supply lines. From now on, you think of just one thing.”

He whispered low and coldly.

“Kill the Outer God.”