Chapter 207

“Supplies are steadily decreasing.”

Beatrice spoke in a monotone. As if she couldn’t feel anything. No. To prevent herself from feeling anything.

The supplies that had been gradually increasing for a while began decreasing at some point. And quite steeply at that.

No one was unaware of what this meant. The rear had finally begun facing pressure. And very rapidly at that.

How many had died? Who was still alive? Though they were curious enough to lose sleep over it, no one voiced these thoughts aloud.

So Yuria also spoke in a monotone.

“Then we need to open the path quickly.”

Sticky blood and flesh dripped down her hair. Servants of the Outer God. And calamities infected by the Outer God. With the endless waves crashing in, the Floating Island felt more like diving than flying these days.

By the time they reached around the 87th floor, each floor had become hell. The world was full of writhing jelly-shaped flesh and blood. The mages had forcibly carved their way through. They would give up rest before reducing their advance speed even slightly.

“……Isn’t it too fast?”

Beatrice asked cautiously. Baek Jun-woo who had ‘promised’ to achieve the 11th Step before meeting the Outer God. But no matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t see how that was possible. Especially with such rapid advancement lately. Right now, even Yuria and herself hadn’t achieved the 7th Step yet.

“We just need to keep our promise.”

Yuria raised the Ultimate Bow again. Her arm trembled uncontrollably. Though she had reached 6th Circle 6-star and could reach the 7th Step when wearing her magical exoskeleton… she couldn’t help her trembling arm. Her magical power, worked to its absolute limit, was as soft and mushy as overcooked marshmallow. Yet she gripped her bow with that arm and drew the string.

“Come on, one more shot.”

Though it looked difficult even to hold the bow, let alone shoot, she made another promise.

“I am Yuria Lin. By the authority granted to me by the Divine Mage, I command. I call forth bitter trials to test my will. I wish for the one arrow that can pierce even fate. Following distant footsteps, I, <I shall shoot the sun.>”

Piiiiiing—!

True to her promise, a silver arrow pierced through the rapids blocking the Floating Island. Flesh and blood poured down like a flood, and through the gap, the sky filled with multicolored clouds was revealed. The contrast was exquisite.

A wizard soared up into the sky where multicolored clouds and writhing space collided with each other.

The wizard flying while wearing a newly crafted magical exoskeleton and radiating brilliant magical power. He wasn’t discouraged in the slightest even before the desperately overwhelming enemies.

“You bastards! Not yet! Compared to the hell of despair I experienced, this is still heaven!”

His name was Restoration Wizard Grego-Ramdal. Dean of Academy and the last survivor. He who had fallen into despair in the druid’s land now overflowed with passion more than anyone else.

“Hey, old man! Stop showing off on your own!”

Following closely behind him was Guardian Martial House Yeon Gae-bu-so.

Excluding Baek Jun-woo, these two were currently the only ones here who had achieved the 7th Step.

When wearing magical exoskeletons, they reached the 8th Step realm and unleashed firepower rivaling a Magic Emperor!

The two who flew through the gap Yuria had opened—their magic shook the world, and the chunks of flesh melted, shattered, and fell away. The 87th floor, which had been full of the Outer God’s servants, slowly regained its original form.

The exhausted mages finally caught their breath.

Yuria also lowered her bow. Struggling to hold onto the bow that kept slipping from her hands, she looked up at the sky. The world that had been covered and writhing with the Outer God’s servants regained its true colors. Multicolored clouds floated peacefully, far and near.

“The 87th floor… this place was completely filled with clouds… Is this a floor where records of weather phenomena were kept?”

Looking back, she could see a tree that appeared large even from a distance. The World Tree rustled its leaves.

“Fix the damaged records. So the people in the rear can hold out even a little longer.”

She whispered to the World Tree with a prayer.

Everyone did the same. All the mages turned to look at the World Tree at least once and muttered. Among them was Beatrice.

“Hurry up and come out. I’ll help with dissection or whatever.”

Beatrice gazed at the World Tree with melancholy eyes.

Beside her, Evan, covered in blood, looked at her with distaste.

“Ah…? Did I hear wrong? Dissection? Did you just say that to cheer up Baek Jun-woo? That doesn’t sound like encouragement at all……”

Then Beatrice snapped and shouted.

“What does a knight wannabe know about mages! Jun-woo loves dissection!”

Startled, Evan darted forward without responding.

‘Damn crazy. This is why environment is important for teenagers.’

Evan, who had spent a rather unfortunate childhood and had hatred for mages carved into his bones… now realized that young mages seemed to have had even more chaotic childhoods.

‘I’d rather fight the Outer God’s servants.’

Evan shook his head and once again fired his beam hilt at the chunks of flesh blocking the sky.

* * *

Dissection?

Dissection is good.

I love it so much I’d tear myself apart and reassemble myself.

I don’t even know what I’m becoming anymore. The human limit is the 8th Step. For me, a human, to reach the 10th Step meant giving up being human.

-That’s why we’re here.

Whooongg.

The chattering spirits and <Samantha>, announcing its presence with gentle vibrations.

I was even dismantling them bit by bit and merging them with myself. Not complete fusion, but partial sharing of body and magical power. Like Marvel’s Iron Man transforming into Ghost in the Shell’s Major Kusanagi. A cyborg where machine and flesh are mixed, connected to each other through networks… How far does ‘me’ extend? Does ‘me’ even exist? I was becoming an ambiguous being.

Philosophical concerns and identity confusion naturally came. But this wasn’t the time to worry about such things.

So let’s just say I’m someone who absolutely loves dissection. Maybe that’s my identity. It seemed like I’d need that to endure the terrible mental and physical pain.

‘I’ve only woven about 130 now?’

Only bitter laughter emerged.

I hadn’t slept a wink for over two weeks. My mental strength was nearly at its limit, making my vision flicker on and off… but I couldn’t rest until I finished weaving all of this. Yet the more I wove, the harder it became to weave new magical power.

‘I can’t do this! I can’t do it even if I die!’ Terrified screams became nausea that surged up my throat several times, but I kept swallowing it down. Fortunately, as the work difficulty increased, my ‘intellectual capacity’ was growing along with it. Without that, I would have hit my limit long ago.

When I had woven 108 of the 204 magical powers, I began to sense it.

‘I’m starting to transcend the 9th Step.’

Using just over half my magical power, I could create beyond the limbic system to gradually form the frontal cortex of the cerebrum.

The sprouting of divine intelligence.

From that point, I began exercising ‘divine intelligence’ to test and modify the magical power neural network I had woven.

I read the Akashic Records. The Akashic Records were ultimately the Tower of Covenant itself. The source code that defines this world. Reading, analyzing, and manipulating that was precisely what ‘divine intelligence’ did. Though my mental fatigue was at its peak from dismantling and reassembling all my body’s magical power, I had no choice but to do it.

‘Huff… I have to do it. I love dissection and analysis, don’t I?’

I focused my mind on the World Tree’s roots. The mana records that I had once read only through ‘intuition’ now analyzed clearly like language.

As Yuria had said, the 87th floor described weather phenomena.

‘The weather phenomena algorithms are configured for before the continents were shattered. That’s why so many continents were difficult for people to live on. Modifying the main algorithms would be difficult with my current ability… but I can make some emergency adjustments.’

Following my will, the World Tree on the Floating Island extended its roots. It advanced through dimensions. Starting from the 87th floor, it analyzed and revealed the ‘records of weather phenomena’ spread throughout the world. Preparations were complete.

‘Restoration Wizard. Can you hear my voice?’

Telepathy transmitted through the World Tree.

Grego-Ramdal, who had been rampaging at the very front of the battlefield, stopped his rough breathing and suddenly raised his head.

“Ohhhh! Divine Wizard! Are you making restoration history again this time!”

……It was good that Grego-Ramdal, who had been trapped in despair, regained hope. But he had one major side effect.

“This useless old man can be of help—what infinite glory! Please command me!”

……He’s not even a fanatic.

Was it an imprinting effect? Having been locked in despair, he began worshipping me who had shattered that despair.

It made my skin crawl, but well, what’s good is good, right? It helped increase magical power anyway. The blind loyalty and faith of a 7th Step archwizard was an achievement even a Magic Emperor couldn’t obtain.

‘Good. I’ll resonate with you now. Accept it calmly.’

Grego-Ramdal, who reached the 8th Step thanks to his magical exoskeleton. I attempted to connect to his still-immature magical power neural network.

Grego-Ramdal accepted me without any resistance.

His gift [Restoration]. This was a kind of rollback function.

A function the old administrators used when correcting errors in the Akashic Records.

[Restoration] could revert any phenomenon to several steps prior.

Of course, what Grego-Ramdal [Restoration] was limited to canceling already-cast spells or negating already-received damage—reverting short periods of time.

But I was now beginning to set foot in the 10th Step… and above all, I possessed the memorial tablets where the souls of ancient gods gathered.

The memorial tablets were an inexhaustible source of power and an amplifier that greatly magnified small wills!

In the subdimensional workshop, I raised my hand. Outside the workshop, Grego-Ramdal, connected to me, also raised his hand. He and I simultaneously chanted the same spell.

[Restoration!]

With a single word of the spell, the 87th floor shuddered. The records that had been unknowingly distorted and damaged by the Outer God began to regain their original form.

On the 87th floor, the multicolored clouds grew deeper and richer.

Outside the tower, gentle rain began falling on the parched earth.

“Ah, ahhh……”

The sighs and sobs of mages and people were transmitted to me through the World Tree’s roots. I exerted more power. I couldn’t stop at restoration. To organize weather algorithms suited to the shattered continents, I pushed my magical power neural network to its limits.

Wind changed across the world, and temperatures shifted.

Long-buried seeds sprouted and grew rapidly.

‘With this… supplying from the rear will become a bit easier. With this… fewer people will die from harsh climates.’

But… I’m so dizzy.

Though I had performed a miracle rivaling the gods, I couldn’t feel anything. I was too exhausted.

The 130 magical powers I had somehow woven were still unstably connected. Just using this much power made them seem ready to scatter again immediately.

They had become thin and delicate through fine weaving, but had grown weak in return.

There was one cause for this.

‘<Saíl>’s magical power is too weak……’

The magical power of <Saíl>, which was serving as the central hub of the magical power neural network, was too small in quantity. It wasn’t particularly small compared to other magical powers, but controlling over a hundred magical powers with just that one was not easy.

‘Should I obtain additional <Saíl> magical power?’

But where was there time for that?

My heart suddenly grew weak.

It felt stuffy, like indigestion. Murky.

Then I seemed to hear a voice. It felt like the <Saíl> magical power buried deepest in my magical power neural network was speaking to me.

[I will not break even if only a speck remains. I will pierce anything and bring down anything. That is what I am. Are you the same?]

Through my fading consciousness, I asked back.

How can you be like that?

What kind of god were you, exactly?

No answer came.

I still had 74 more magical powers left to weave.