Chapter 213

A being I created, yet one I did not create.

<Samantha>

I participated in this battle as merely her coolant, her lubricant.

The beginning was wonder and delight.

Because I traveled throughout <Samantha>’s entire body myself, I could observe more closely and in detail than anyone else.

‘Is this really a being I created? Is this really the product of self-organization?’

Following the beautifully extending Ki-blood, primordial flames and countless galaxies flowed mixed with magical power.

The magical power organs and magical power skin were organized in incomprehensible ways yet were small, sturdy, and varied. A continuous succession of innovation and revolution.

God’s lips. Looking at them and then at a mage’s Circle would make one feel wretched. They seemed similar at first glance, but the detailed finishing was different. The difference of a single strand of magical power being gathered or twisted—the result was the difference between god and human.

However, what was most decisive was ultimately the magical power nervous system. I truly became embarrassed. The design I had woven together using the human brain as a model…

‘I absolutely can’t let <Samantha> see this.’

The finely and complexly connected magical power nervous system endlessly burned while holding primordial flames.

Human brains ignite and extinguish through the transmission of neurotransmitters, creating various patterns, but <Samantha>’s magical power nerves had no such ‘gaps.’

‘A kind of quantum computer?’

The ‘superposition’ of ignited and extinguished states.

Magical power neural networks that simultaneously expressed cause, process, and result.

I could roughly guess what it was like, but could never understand it. A magical power phenomenon existing beyond mortal thought.

Though I had created it… <Samantha>’s magical power nervous system shone in ways I couldn’t understand, and following those lights, countless phenomena of all creation unfolded.

To such a <Samantha>, something like the First Apostle posed no problem at all. We ignored him and flew straight toward the Outer God. The First Apostle Balrog screamed toward us.

-No! It can’t be! How dare creatures like you look upon my master’s form…! No! Please!!

But… what’s this?

‘Please? Please?’

The nuance is strange.

The Outer God’s majesty faintly revealed in the darkness. Something so overwhelming that even <Samantha>’s Ki-blood shrank back. Yet Balrog wasn’t showing pride in his master but was pleading desperately.

-Ah, no. Please…

The reason was revealed before long.

[How… pitiful.]

Starting with <Samantha>’s single word, Balrog’s sobbing stopped abruptly.

-N-no…

Along with Balrog’s strangled voice, a suddenly suffocating pressure consumed everything around us.

A low voice was heard.

[Does my appearance… look pitiful?]

It was the Outer God.

The 100th floor, the place where the single record that gave birth to everything in our universe was inscribed, and the border region touching the sea of chaos beyond the universe. Unable to even cross that threshold, stuck to the universe’s boundary like a moth dried to a wall… Whether that was a lump, vomit, bloody foam, or what it resembled, I couldn’t tell, but the Outer God we had feared was in such a wretched state.

The Outer God asked.

On its body, massive as a universe, pus-filled sacs hung in clusters, and when the pus burst, all sorts of rotting things screamed as they were swept away into the sea of chaos.

[Am I… horrible and disgusting and filthy?]

The Outer God pushed its head against the dimensional boundary. Through the cracks in the boundary surface here and there, the Outer God’s pus sacs protruded just slightly. From the large mass that could barely be acknowledged as a head, the Outer God’s turbid pupils rolled wetly as they monitored us through the thin cracks.

[Am I repulsive?]

It doesn’t seem… quite sane, does it?

Grooooan—

Did <Samantha> realize the same thing? The magical power flowing along Ki-blood momentarily intensified.

[First, with the World Tree’s power…]

Right. The Outer God’s condition didn’t seem good. It appeared unable to fully insert its body into our world, barely clinging to the dimensional wall. If we used the dimensional power possessed by the ‘World Tree,’ we might be able to shake the dimensional barrier and hurl it into the sea of chaos at once… It looked to be in just that sorry state.

That’s why it was strange.

‘Samantha. Wait! Be careful…’

[Shall I defend?]

Huh?

Unlike my worry that she might be careless, <Samantha>’s voice was coldly tense.

That kid… knows what she’s doing.

[Do I! Look so! Horrible!]

The moment the Outer God screamed once more, half the world darkened and half brightened.

Thud! Thud!

Each time the Outer God rammed its body against the dimensional boundary, light shook and the turbid darkness gradually swelled its body.

I first saw what shone brightly.

It was the ‘record’ of the 100th floor. The primordial record that created this universe. The bedrock upon which the house called universe was built. Leaning on this, other records were written and all creation was born.

<Samantha> naturally read that record and grasped its meaning. Thanks to that, I could also know its meaning.

‘All things are distinguished by existence and non-existence.’

This record shone brightly, clearly drawing the boundary between the sea of chaos and the universe.

But the other half of the world was dark. No… should this be called dark? I couldn’t even perceive ‘darkness.’ It was truly nothing at all. Looking at it, all emotions and thoughts were sucked into it, leaving nothing behind. Absolute vastness. That was chaos.

From the Outer God’s body ramming against the dimensional boundary, chaos flowed out in streams.

Gurgle. Gurgle.

Through the cracked dimensional boundary surfaces, chaos pressed in.

[A god’s body consumed by chaos? Kugh!]

<Samantha>, who had swallowed her groan, gripped the World Tree and rushed forward toward the chaos.

The dimensional power arising from the World Tree pushed back the chaos coming across the boundary. In the process, several drops of chaos splashed onto <Samantha>’s body. She trembled as if struck by fire.

[Kruuugh…! Divine Wizard…!]

‘Kuk… I understand…!’

<Samantha> and I simultaneously burst into groans. Though we had become accustomed to enduring the ‘Primordial Fire,’ we had thought we were used to pain… was that just an illusion?

<Samantha>’s magical power, which had been forming beautiful structures, creaked in various places. It heated up like hot iron. It was extraordinary pain.

‘Somehow… I have to calm it down…’

Hissssss!

I raced through <Samantha>’s body in the formless shape of the Philosopher’s Stone.

I became fire. I became water. Right now, <Samantha>’s interior feels to me like a space battleship connected by countless passages and pipes. A space battleship creaking and about to collapse.

Thud!

Magical power collided with magical power. I forcibly squeezed my body into the gaps between clashing magical powers. Thud! Thud! I took the pouring impacts in their place.

Then right beside me, Ki-blood heated to its limit began trembling as if about to explode. I grabbed it and wrapped it with my body.

‘Hwaaaaah!’

I cooled the heated Ki-blood. Simultaneously, I covered the ‘chaos’ seeping through the magical power skin with my entire body and pushed it away.

Hisssss!

‘My body… is evaporating.’

While performing lubrication and cooling work, the Philosopher’s Stone composing me rapidly diminished. Even the Philosopher’s Stone, called the ultimate material, found it difficult to block magical power rampage and chaos.

[Father…]

<Samantha>, who realized my condition, murmured sadly. Her voice sounded like she might cry at any moment. I continued pushing, grabbing, and cooling the magical powers without rest as I shouted.

‘Again…! Don’t call me that! How old do you think I am to be called dad?’

[But…!]

‘I’m fine. You brat.’

Without realizing it, I chuckled. Though I was formless and couldn’t actually laugh… still, <Samantha> would definitely have noticed that I laughed.

[Ah… a blade of grass laugh…?]

‘Huh?’

[…No. Nothing. Divine Wizard. I’ll finish this quickly and return, so please endure just a little longer. You must endure.]

Calling me father one moment, Divine Wizard the next—I have no idea what criteria she uses to switch between them. But suddenly <Samantha>’s mindset changed. The magical power throughout her body rose up tightly. Fierce movement that didn’t care about magical power overload.

Hisssss—

Thanks to that, the speed at which my body evaporated also increased, but <Samantha> didn’t spare herself. She seemed determined to end the fight quickly.

Like nomads who run through a downpour to get less wet from the rain.

Right. Good momentum. You need that kind of reckless side too, to be worthy of being a god created by this Baek Jun-woo!

[Step back, chaos! All things are distinguished by existence and the non-existence between existences!]

Thud!

<Samantha> struck down hard with the World Tree.

‘Wow… where did she learn a spell like that?’

The single record on the 100th floor, <All things are distinguished by existence and non-existence.> This one line of record responded to <Samantha>’s spell.

The 100th floor is the cornerstone supporting our universe. The most powerful shield. <Samantha>, who had acquired legitimate divinity, could freely wield that power.

Whoooosh!

The light that had illuminated half the world blazed brightly. Where light ‘existed’ was bright, and where it was ‘absent’ cast shadows. Unlike the mind-numbing chaos, the shadows created this time wrapped the surroundings comfortably like shadows settling on a bed in a warm room.

The distinction between existence and non-existence—both light and shadow belonged to the realm of ‘order,’ not chaos.

Layer by layer, spreading like concentric circles, light and shadow alternated and spread outward, and the pouring chaos was helplessly pushed back.

‘Well done!’

[Yes… I’ll finish this as quickly as possible.]

<Samantha> answering calmly and stiffly.

Our appearance seemed quite uncomfortable to the Outer God.

[Do I! Do I! Look pathetic!]

Crrrack!

The Outer God, whose self-esteem had been dripping away from the start. I wanted to mock it, but had to swallow my mockery.

‘…Is that even possible? Skipping intermediate steps and suddenly such a powerful attack?’

When the Outer God twisted its body, the sea of chaos surged greatly. If what came before was just chaos leaking in, what was rushing toward us now was a tsunami.

[Th-this is…]

I could feel <Samantha>’s unfinished words.

This is hard to block.

Even if we could block it,

‘I’ll probably vanish without a trace…’

I recalled my role of stabilizing her still-unstable body. The more she exerted power, the more magical powers collided and overheated—I had to cool her body. As lubricant and coolant that evaporates itself.

In the end, I would leave not even a speck of soul behind.

‘What is this? Why is it so overwhelming?’

We had also achieved the 11th Step. But a tsunami? Just from writhing its body a few times, a tsunami of chaos? We were no match at all. Right now our problem wasn’t the issue. Could our universe even withstand such a thing? Was the Outer God this powerful?

Unreasonable. Absurd. But that was the reality before us.

Suddenly, I thought of the Magic Emperor.

Suddenly… I thought of mom and dad, whom I’d parted with at the Guardian’s graveyard.

Was it this feeling?

‘Samantha. What happens if chaos invades the 100th floor?’

[…If it’s a small amount, the universe will purify it itself. But if there’s this much volume…]

‘Annihilation?’

[Rather than annihilation… everything would just become as if it never happened. Literally, just never happened. Like a dream. Everything.]

A surge of nausea.

Sudden rage welled up.

‘Never happened?’

The gods’ failed creation.

The creatures’ hundreds of thousands of years of struggling to survive.

Mom and dad’s deaths.

My desperate struggle—everything would become as if it never happened? That was more terrible than annihilation.

‘Block it. I’ll definitely be fine. I promise you, so block it.’

Perhaps… this might be the first promise I fail to keep.

<Samantha> was silent for a moment after reading my heart like this. But in the end, she gave me the answer I wanted.

[Yes, Father… I, Samantha. As the god of the Star Continent, no matter what happens. I will protect this world.]

‘Thank you.’

We looked side by side at the approaching tsunami of emptiness.

But this is strange.

Hadn’t the Outer God wanted to take over this world? It couldn’t have waited hundreds of thousands of years just to make everything never happened, right?

Having no choice but to bury my doubts, I was preparing to clash with the tsunami of emptiness when the First Apostle Balrog, who had been silent until now, squeezed between us.

Having released his disguise and revealed his true form, he had a human-like appearance. His build was actually smaller and more slender than mine. On his back, hundreds of tentacles swayed. The draping tentacles looked repulsive from one angle, yet majestic like an angel’s wings from another.

He revealed his true form and cried out.

“Ah! My master! Please compose yourself! This place is your sanctuary. The paradise where you and your world will finally find rest. My master! You must not destroy this place with chaos!”

[Bal… rog?]

Then the rushing tsunami of chaos stopped as if it were a lie.

“Yes! Yes, my master! I am here!”

The chaos slowly receded. Reason gradually began to dwell in the Outer God’s voice, which had been filled with rage.

[I… lost my mind again.]

“No, master. No. It’s only because you’ve wandered in chaos for too long. There’s nothing to worry about. Nothing to blame yourself for. Our paradise… our sanctuary is right before us now.”

[Right… that’s how it should be. That way… your sacrifices won’t be in vain.]

“Sacrifice? Master! That’s not right. Everything exists solely for you. In this world, only you truly exist. Eat joyfully and grow fat. Grow so large that even the torrents of chaos feel merely ticklish.”

[…Right. Right. My faithful apostle…]

Suddenly, it was a mysterious atmosphere.

Though Balrog added ‘master’ to every word with an extremely reverent attitude, the emotion dwelling within was different from that… rather, it was familiar affection. The Outer God was the same. It, no, he who had lost reason to the point of rage just moments before immediately regained composure at Balrog’s voice.

‘It’s exactly… like a parent-child relationship.’

And it’s as if Balrog is the parent.

Something… an unpleasant sense of kinship was felt.

The First Apostle.

And me.

We stood side by side, each with our god, glaring at each other.

Balrog spoke toward us.

“You said you wanted to protect this world?”

<Samantha> answered.

[Of course.]

“Then there’s still a way. Help our master safely descend to this world.”

Balrog’s face had eyebrows like ours too. From his eyebrows twisted into the character for eight (八), desperation dripped.

[Your master? The very one who just tried to erase the entire world with chaos?]

<Samantha>’s sarcasm. Balrog flinched in surprise and looked back. The Outer God was quietly clinging to the dimensional boundary, only rolling his grayish-white pupils.

Balrog, who sighed softly, answered.

“Believe my words. I speak no lies. Simply allow our master to be accepted into this world. That’s the only way we can survive. I understand your power well enough, so I’ll refrain from forceful methods as much as possible. But accept us. Then we’ll try this thing called ‘negotiation’ that the Magic Emperor wanted so much.”

With eyes so sincere and desperate that it was hard to believe they belonged to those who had caused the reverse creation that would overturn the entire world… Balrog spoke.

“Didn’t I tell you? You have no reason to fight us.”