Chapter 205

I think of Earth.

I also think of the continents of our star.

When I think of it, it’s beautiful.

Like the moon or Jupiter, this world too could have been just simple fragments of rock or lumps of gas. Or perhaps without time or space, all mass gathered at a single point… chaos that is everything and nothing.

But oceans cover the rock, and there’s fine sand and moist soil, and moss grows clinging there, and great trees, and creatures that devour those trees, and people who devour those creatures, and microorganisms that decompose their byproducts… tens of thousands of proteins and sugars and fats and fibers… bubbling yeasts. The world is thus strange and beautiful with countless substances that living things have produced by devouring each other and excreting.

We have adorned this world so beautifully through eating, digesting, and excreting—this world that could have been just a lump of rock.

Is that why?

Why is eating such a joyful thing? Even though my body no longer has any need to eat.

“Wahahahaha!”

With the 75th floor ahead of us, we ate and drank our fill.

After we finish eating, we’ll have to break through the time horizon again and advance to the 75th floor.

When we escaped the 73rd floor and passed through the 74th, it was still okay. After all, the 73rd floor—humanity’s domain—was right behind us. But once we cross to the 75th floor, we’ll be cut off. We’ll have to advance completely separated from humanity’s territory into the domain of the Outer God. No retreat has been planned.

Though no one had suggested it first, we naturally gathered in small groups. Tonight we must feast to our hearts’ content.

“Wow… White Jelly Conch! I’ve only heard about it but never tried it! This heavenly taste is sucking out my tongue! Ah, I feel like I’ll never be able to erase this fragrance for my whole life. Hey! Can I eat all of this?”

“Eat it all! We should die tomorrow without regrets! There’s nothing to save! This supply shipment was record-breaking! Hey~ throw me two pounds of White Jelly Conch sirloin over here!”

The apostle definitely said it was targeting the rear, but somehow the supplies keep getting better. Whether the apostle was lying, the rear successfully held them off, or they’re squeezing out the last sparks…

I don’t know, but

since it’s given to us, let’s eat heartily. From now on, things will really get hectic.

“Hey! Divine Wizard! The vampire lord Kaisel here wants blood! Offer it up!”

Kaisel’s tongue was twisted. Jet-black hair and blood-red eyes. That face, lethally seductive yet chillingly ominous, now had a cute flush rising on it.

She who had always acted lukewarm about everything, prioritizing her own life, had somehow made up her mind to participate in the final war without complaint. So good. I’ll gladly run errands for her!

“Right. Eat plenty and live another hundred thousand years.”

I firmly grasped a multicolored Philosopher’s Stone. Using the [Creation] authority slightly, I transformed the Philosopher’s Stone into blood.

From a Philosopher’s Stone the size of a hundred-won coin, blood poured endlessly. The gushing blood filled the wooden tub that Kaisel had casually kicked with her foot. Even after filling the tub that was about half Kaisel’s height, the Philosopher’s Stone barely shrank from its hundred-won coin size.

“Kekeke. Good. Good. I should try transforming my body into a Philosopher’s Stone like you. That way I won’t die and can live long, right?”

Kaisel smiled contentedly and elegantly lifted her cup to drink from the blood pooled in the wooden tub. Though quite diluted, it was still blood made from a Philosopher’s Stone. For Kaisel, whose flesh was composed of the blood she drank, it was the ultimate tonic among tonics.

“Hyaaa… so good…”

After one cup, her body trembled. Whatever effect the Philosopher’s Stone had, Kaisel’s body grew hot and her tongue kept getting more tangled. But Kaisel didn’t stop moving her hands. She scooped up one cup and gulped it down. Scooped again and gulped. Without even a moment to breathe, she kept moving her hands, gulp gulp gulp.

“Why don’t you just hold the whole tub and drink? Or should I pour about a hundred tubs for you? Want me to stack them up for you to drink from?”

“What are you saying! How could I, a vampire lord, do such undignified things? Pour one tub each time I order you to! I’ll drink one cup at a time.”

“Yes. Yes. As you command. Yes, ma’am.”

“Hiiek! What kind of disrespectful behavior is this!”

Is it her original personality coming out from being drunk? Kaisel, who was unusually cheeky, got a flick on the forehead from my index finger, and I turned my gaze away.

Everyone was eating with gusto.

But no one was truly eating with gusto.

Everyone knew that having this peaceful conversation with the person in front of them might be the last time.

Whenever conversation and laughter occasionally stopped, words like ‘Not bad.’ and ‘Good. Today is really good.’ flowed here and there.

“Jun-woo.”

Wiping the grease from the corner of his mouth, Monggu spoke.

“I think this is enough.”

“What is.”

“Well. Having no regrets? This time, unlike before… I think I can avoid running away.”

Monggu didn’t avoid my gaze. He didn’t stammer at all. He looked straight at me. Though Monggu isn’t even a mage… still, his words carried the conviction that they would definitely be kept. This guy. He really won’t run away this time. It’ll be different from that day when he ran away on his own and caused our parents’ deaths.

That’s why I got choked up.

“Idiot. If you can run away, you should run. You’re not even a mage, so you’d be good at hiding. And if you’re going to run anyway, you absolutely have to survive. Even if it means following behind others.”

“…Still, I won’t run.”

“Do as you like. Just don’t die. Don’t you dare die.”

What a ridiculous guy. So should I tell him to fight until I die? Yuria and Monggu, we three. They’re the closest people to me anyway… how annoying.

I gave Monggu a light punch on the shoulder and stood up.

“But don’t worry. I’ll be the one to kill the Outer God.”

With a single word, magical powers swirled. Maximum deployment of ‘Word Spirit.’

The world believes in me. All mana and magical powers move automatically to flow according to my words. My current Word Spirit is powerful enough that if I said “Let water flow,” the groundwater below would gush up, and if I said “Let flowers bloom,” the seeds buried in the ground would pierce through and sprout.

But even this would be nowhere near enough against the Outer God.

I trudged along.

Ahead sat sky-blue hair, white hair, and brown hair side by side. Two outsiders, and outsider care specialist Yuria.

I plopped down heavily next to Tris, who was chattering beside Yuria.

“Hic! Baek Jun-woo?!”

Tris jumped up with a start.

Huh? Her reaction is way too suspicious.

“What. Were you badmouthing me?”

True to her nature as a mage, she can’t lie outright and just rolls her eyes around evasively.

Tsk tsk.

I clicked my tongue and ignored Tris, who was starting to make excuses in panic.

I simply cast my gaze toward Yuria.

Sky-blue hair, sky-blue eyes.

Things like mana and magical power being different, magical power having colors… when I was young, every time I said things like that, I had to endure so much mockery, but those sky-blue eyes never changed once.

She always noticed my worries and comforted me. Now just seeing that sky-blue color puts my mind at ease. It makes me easily confess inner thoughts I’d hidden from others.

“Sis. You’ve gathered the magical power to create 6th Circle 6-star, right?”

“Yeah. Much faster than expected.”

She nodded slightly. Even amid this, her sky-blue eyes kept examining me. She knows I have something troubling me and is worried.

Huu—

Right.

For her, having just reached 5th Circle 5-star not long ago, to become 6th Circle 6-star again. It was already miraculous speed. Excluding me, it would probably be the fastest development in history, wouldn’t it? Moreover, the ‘magical exoskeleton’ attracts magical power’s attention just by being worn, so her speed in gathering magical power would only keep accelerating.

But…

That’s not enough—that’s our problem.

“Sis.”

“Yeah.”

“Listen. Before reaching the Outer God.”

“Yeah.”

“…Can you create 8th Step? Without the magical exoskeleton.”

My insides churned.

I know. How absurd what I’m saying is.

From when I first entered School Nomad, the thing I had to realize. The fact that ‘other people are different from me.’

What I can see, they cannot see. What I can feel, they don’t know. That’s natural. It’s nothing to resent, just something to accept. I shouldn’t expect others to do what I can do.

So though I’m 8th Step without <Samantha>, others can’t be. In recent centuries, only the Magic Emperor alone had reached the 8th Circle.

But still, I asked her.

Because there was no other way.

I know it’s impossible, but still, the only person I could ask was Yuria.

“Yeah.”

She readily answered. As if I’d asked something casual like ‘Could you get me some water?’ Without a moment’s hesitation, without showing any tension.

My heart sank with a thud.

I thought of the process by which she had reached 5th Circle 5-star. Though she eventually subdued the Wizard of Debt Shilo de Medissa and skyrocketed in realm, at that time she nearly died. That’s how much strain was required to raise one’s realm like that. But the path to 8th Step would surely be several times more dangerous than that near-death experience.

Yet she accepted my request with just a simple ‘Yeah.’

I was happy, and more than that, afraid.

It felt sinister, as if my request had just driven her toward inescapable death.

Pat.

Her hand came up to rest on my head. She gently stroked my hair. It’s been a while since I was treated like a child…

“Hey. Are you crying?”

…What kind of mood-breaking…

“I’m not crying.”

“Right. Let’s cry less and smile more~”

A sky-blue smile spread across her face.

She patted my shoulder and turned away. Stretching as she spoke.

“Let’s finish the fight quickly. Vagrant brats with nowhere to go in the wasteland have gotten this successful, what is this? Ah~ I’m tired. So tired. I’m so tired I’m going to go train now!”

I shouted at the back of the departing figure.

Since things have come to this, I might as well say everything I want.

“Yuria!”

“What now?”

“Then I’ll trust you and go into seclusion training? Take command. You have the best eye for reading the battlefield, better than anyone.”

She stops in place with a jolt.

“Wow~ I agree.”

Tris quickly agreed. Since Tris agreed, all of Ragnarok will follow.

“…I agree too. Master would have no objections either.”

Evan also quietly expressed agreement. The knight order should be fine too.

“Haha. If it’s the master who defeated me, I can trust her.”

Even Shilo de Medissa, who follows her around like a shadow, chimed in.

Right.

She’s qualified. Everyone acknowledged her [Magic Eye].

“…What about the event horizon?”

“I’ll arrange for Nadia to be able to use the World Tree. The event horizon won’t be a problem. Just keep going straight. Until you meet the Outer God.”

“…Got it. Don’t be late finishing your training.”

She turned around lightly to face me and waved her hand.

I pushed Tris, Evan, Shilo de Medissa, and the others toward her.

“Take these guys with you when you train. Take Monggu too. Work them really hard.”

“Yeah. Yeah.”

“Uwaaak! Wait, me! I haven’t finished eating yet!”

Pushing away the protesting Tris, I also turned around.

I’ve abandoned the rear,

And passed the mission of breaking through the front to Yuria.

I set down all burdens and shoulder just one burden.

Somehow, it doesn’t feel as heavy as before.

“Until then, I’ll create 10th Step with <Samantha>. No, 11th Step.”

“Go for it.”

Watching the departing figure of her leading the crowd away, I called the cube after a long moment.

“Cube. Open the door to the dimensional workshop.”

-It’s been a while, administrator.

The cube floating in the air transformed into a rectangular door.

Pushing through the rectangular door leads to the workshop inside.

The workshop where the ancient gods once crafted the entire world.