1.
Some time later, after my children had completed their final evolution.
[The dream demon race is experiencing an evolution!]
[The mermaid race is experiencing an evolution!]
[The snail race is experiencing an evolution!]
Changes also began to happen to the other races.
The goblin race wasn't the only race that could evolve. The children of the soil were just the first to open fire. The races who were also able to evolve began spewing aura one after the other.
Paaaaaht!
In an instant, the sky became rainbow colored.
-Ohhh.
-This…
There were hundreds of thousands of people surrounding the [Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea]. They sat in the lotus position on the monster's limbs and even its claws. All releasing aura at the same time.
The entire area was bright and colorful, as if it was wrapped in a rainbow.
[The existence of The Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea blurs.]
The light was also a candle that was using the giant monster as a wick.
[The Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea can no longer wake up from its sleep.]
[The existence of The Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea blurs.]
'It's over.'
I narrowed my eyes as I looked at the hologram.
The Energy Dragon's majestic body was fast asleep. It was a phenomenon I had already witnessed before when I found the Devil King of Fall Rain. Falling.
'Nevertheless, it's much calmer than back then.'
The Energy Dragon didn't resist.
No, it couldn't.
Because the dream demon race had trapped the Energy Dragon in the dream world.
That giant turtle probably didn't feel any pain or despair.
[The existence of The Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea blurs.]
[The Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea can no longer maintain its authority.]
[Commencing grade adjustment.]
[Removing the title 'Energy Dragon that Dwells in the Deep Sea'.]
A good death.
Finally, the monster's body disintegrated.
The Constellation, which was said to have created this continent by itself, was devoured by the children it gave birth to.
"…a fair ending."
The Black Dragon Master opened her mouth.
As we watched our children evolve, Anastasia had become lost for words for a while, but now it seemed that she had regained her composure.
"Even though the continent is rich in aura because of the Energy Dragon… so all eight races owe them, I can't feel sorry for them."
Well deserved punishment.
Anastasia calmly assessed the monster's death.
"It happened because he tried to kill own children. How can a being who bares their fangs at their children be a creator and parent? From the moment they bared their fangs, they were a beast. So they will fight each other, kill each other, and only the strong one will survive."
"And our children are strong."
"That's right. It's all thanks to our children."
Looking at each other, Anastasia and I smiled. Not only the two of us, but my other colleagues also had bright expressions. They looked as happy as if we had cleared the stage ourselves, or maybe even more than that.
The atmosphere was heartwarming.
"Well, all of the races did well."
I said smilingly.
"If we had to pick the best among them, wouldn't it be the goblins?"
"…huh?"
Anastasia frowned.
"What are you talking about? If the dream demons hadn't put the Energy Dragon to sleep, they wouldn't have been able to clear the stage in the first place. The vampires who brought the dream demons should be considered to have made the greatest contribution. If you think about it, the goblins just stole the delicious scene."
"Mm! That makes sense, but without the architecture of the snails, the hundreds of thousands of people would not have been able to climb onto the Energy Dragon's body every day!"
Ahaha, the Heretic Questioner laughed.
"The key point of this operation is the aura. Considering how important it was to have as many people as possible, the snails made an excellent contribution in bringing the operation to fruition!"
"Hoh. You all know nothing. What do you do with hundreds of thousands of people?"
The Count licked her cat paw with her cat tongue.
"In order for this to work, they all needed to be moved quickly by boat, have food to eat while moving, and have space to live after moving. Needless to say, the continent's capital and logistics are carried by the elves. Understand? Objectively speaking, in fact, the hidden contribution of the elves is the greatest."
"Actually, all the ships carrying the logistics are pulled by the mermaids. Mm. I mean, if we're talking about objective facts, that is also an objective fact."
Huh?
Did these people really think their children were the best?
"Ay. No. Obviously, the goblins are the best. That is the case even if your eyes are covered in bean pods.* How could you side with your children even when you know this is true?" (*: The literal translation of the Korean expression is "A bean pod covering the eyes." This phrase refers to being so madly in love to the point of not seeing or choosing to ignore all of their crush's flaws as if something — in this case a bean pod — is covering their eyes.)
"…"
"…"
Wait.
This atmosphere was no joke.
As if the warm atmosphere a moment ago was a lie, the dropout waiting room suddenly became cold.
'Really?'
Did they really really believe that their children played the biggest role? Wasn't that ridiculous, almost to the level of cognitive dissonance?
No matter how well it was going for the goblins, wasn't this just ugly jealousy, envy, and very clingy animosity?
"[Diling! The Death King develops negative feelings towards his companions. At this time, they didn't yet know. Their camaraderie and friendship, which seemed like it would stay strong forever, would be ruined by their children.]"
"What are you doing, Lady…?"
"Message game."
The Lady Who Walks Through the Mirage cut in between us.
"Did you know? Actually, every message, explanation, and status that is sent to you is all manually typed by one person."
"Huh? …huuuh?"
"Anyway, you have cleared the 38th Floor! Congratulations!"
Babababam, the Lady mimicked the celebratory firework sound with her mouth.
"In fact, the worlds in the stages you attacked vary. The 1st to the 10th Floors are tutorials, so they are practically the same, but the 11th to 31st Floors are completely different. There are more worlds than stars in the sky, which means there are countless stages for your ascendants* to play on!"(*:Those ascending/climbing to heaven)
"Heg."
Anastasia and my other colleagues turned their attention to the Lady's words.
"So the fact that the worlds in each stage appear different… does that mean that there are other worlds with Towers besides ours?"
"Mhm! But it's rare for people from other worlds to run into each other before the 49th Floor."
"Beginner consideration?"
"Something like that, something like that. From the 50th Floor, you will be competing with ascendants from every world."
My colleagues looked excited. This was something that I had known or guessed for a long time, but they acted as if they had never heard of it before.
'Ah. No.'
I suddenly realized.
'This probably really is their first time hearing about it.'
My colleagues were different from me.
I had already known that [Hunters from Other Worlds] existed thanks to Bae Hu-ryeong. After all, Bae Hu-ryeong was a legendary figure who had managed to reach the 99th Floor in another world.
'However… except for the Sword Saint, no one else should know.'
I, who had met the Tower Master and dug out the truth about the Tower, was a unique case.
Most people didn't want to know, and had no way to know.
As I was in the midst of feeling the gap of information once again, [The Lady Who Walks Through The Mirage] kept chattering.
"But from the 31st to the 49th Floor, it is mostly the same. A world-wide commonality, no, should I say universal commonality*?"(*: The former being 'common around a world', the latter being 'common around every world'.)
'Mm.'
This was information that I too was hearing for the first time.
"In the end, it is a matter of how you treat the stages. Some people choose the easy way, and some are willing to take the hard way. It allows you to experience [what you will do when you encounter races from other worlds] in preparation for being mixed with beings from other worlds on the 50th Floor!"
The Lady smiled brightly.
"And now it's time to pay the price for that experience."
Price.
"Because one day, when a child grows up, they will realize the true faces of their parents."
Just as my colleagues were about to ask what that meant.
[Chain layers in progress.]
[The attackers will be sent directly to the 39th Floor.]
[The 39th Floor Quest will be displayed.]
Characters floated before our eyes.
+
[Iconoclasm]
Difficulty: Undetermined(未定)
Mission Objective: You have helped your race.
Your chosen race has overcome many challenges. Whether it be the ferocity of nature, the different races living in the same world, the unidentified plague encountered on the New Continent, or the being who created the continent, all served as a challenge.
Now, it is your turn to be the final test!
Until now, you have been a 'god' who reigned over the race. But you are not a god. You have to work to make a living, eat, smile or be angry. Like that race, you are also human.
Please choose.
Would you let your race know that you are human?
Or will you hide the truth forever and call the race your servants?
※However, if you hide the truth, you will no longer be able to climb the Tower.
+
"…"
Right.
I nodded slowly.
'This is the quest.'
The reason our Tower came to a standstill before I regressed.
The reason why the Flame Emperor, who had been attacking the stage with a wave of force, struggled after reaching the 40th Floor.
It wasn't a monster or a Constellation, but the moment that history [he himself] had written, became the enemy.
'We are not gods.'
We were just the same as those other races.
Now, it was time for those children to know that.
2.
For a long time.
I had been preparing for the 39th Floor for a long time.
『To put it simply, Kekerkker is our bad friend.』
I constantly emphasized to my children that I was not a god, but that I was just a parent, or to be more precise, that I was nothing more than a friend.
『The apostle Gorke made a request to us even upon death. Kekerkker is not our god. Instead, he is a friend who wants to help us.』
『But because he has a dirty mouth and a foul temper, he's not a friend you should keep close.』
Perhaps it might have been more convenient to pretend to be a real god.
After all, I protected the goblins from the lava that flowed from the volcano. I helped them escape from the Rime Empire's salt mines. Taught them how to make tattoos, write letters, and showed them the path to being reborn as the conquerors of the continent.
『The names that are used to refer to Kekerkker are [Foul-mouthed Lion], [The one who loves to hit with their hands], and [Believer of education through violence].』
However, I didn't.
『Kekerkker.』
『Welcome, Daddy.』
I couldn't.
Because I knew that one day, I would have to tell those children that I was not a god.
-What?
-What do you mean, Fire God?
The Flame Emperor had ruled over the elves as an absolute god.
When the elves slaughtered other tribes, burned the world, and caused chaos, the Flame Emperor always used excuses such as [The Command of God] or [The Will of Heaven]. The elves, who had been witnessing miracles from the beginning, had no choice but to fall for the Flame Emperor's tricks.
-I am not a god.
Because of that, the feeling of betrayal was even more severe.
-What the hell is that supposed to mean…
-Ah, fuck. What kind of quest is this? In any case, I had a bad feeling from the moment it mentioned serial tasks. Tch.
In order to proceed with the stage, the Flame Emperor revealed the truth.
-Do you not understand the words coming out of my mouth? I am not a god.
-What's with your expressions? So what if I'm a god, or if I'm not a god?
-You must be joking. If it wasn't for me, you things would have been destroyed by now. Thanks to me, you were able to conquer the continent and become the top race, fuck, does me not being a god change anything? In any case, it is still true that I helped you all.
-What massacre? Command?
-That's all you guys' fault.
-Wow, you bastards are funny. After enjoying everything you needed to enjoy, why are you throwing a fit now? I didn't use you, you all used me. You guys enjoyed killing those other races too. It was comfortable to use 'god's name' as an excuse, wasn't it?
-Then you should be grateful.
-Ungrateful bastards.
The result was, naturally, catastrophic.
The elves realized that their god didn't exist. There was no such thing as the [Fire God]. There was no reason for the destruction of the other races.
The history that they had created over thousands of years. The massacres and wars. Everything was just a con by a [human like them] pretending to be the creator.
-What are you staring at? Do you think I'll be scared if you stare at me?
In that way, the elves became divided.
The priest class, who reigned at the top of the race, were killed first, by the ones they led.
The warrior class split up and started a civil war among themselves. Naturally, the vast majority of the warlords opposed the [False God] Yoo Soo-ha.
From the 40th Floor, the enemies we fought against were none other than the elves.
The race who had believed in and followed the Flame Emperor suddenly became 'enemies' and 'monsters' blocking the path of our Tower.
The few survivors of the races destroyed by the Flame Emperor, of course, became enemies as well. They were the ones who rebelled even when he was still claiming to be a god. After it was revealed that he was a human, the resistance became even more intense, as if it would never weaken.
Truly well deserved punishment.
『How can a being who bares their fangs at their children be a creator and parent? From the moment they bared their fangs, they were a beast. So they will fight each other, kill each other, and only the strong one will survive.』
The world before I regressed went exactly as Anastasia said.
Our Tower entered into a never-ending struggle with the elves.
"Now."
That was the story of the past I knew.
"What will you do?"
And from now on, it would be a different story.
"If you choose to not tell the truth here, you can continue to reign as a god like you have been before. Ah. Even if you fail this quest, the stages that you cleared so far will be preserved. The entire continent from the 31st to the 39th Floors will be incorporated into your Tower! The races that worship you as gods will come as a bonus."
The Lady Who Walks Through The Mirage smiled widely.
"However, if you reveal the secret… everything you have done will be made public. Mhm. All the conversations you've had, and actions you've taken will become video clips which will then be [played] directly in the heads of every race."
"It will be very chaotic. The Musclehead might know what you guys are like, but that's just him. The other kids don't know a thing!"
The Lady looked at each of our faces.
"So I will ask again, what will you choose?"
Naturally.
My answer was fixed.