[You have chosen to head down the path of the temple of the past, Urd . ]
Yeon-woo followed Hepburn, passing the right path .
Unlike Skuld’s temple, the way to Urd’s temple was inclined, up a hill .
He couldn’t see the believers heading to the temple .
Unlike the other two temples where players confessed their worries about the present of the future, Urd’s temple managed the past, so it was the least popular .
Also, because of the incident with Skuld’s temple, the number of players who visited the 16th floor had suddenly decreased .
Thanks to that, Yeon-woo was able to comfortably arrive at the temple .
Skuld’s temple had a high marble ceiling, whereas Urd’s temple had a round arch ceiling .
Considering she was the oldest of the three goddesses, it was humble and simple .
“He is a guest that the goddess invited . Open the doors . ”
The disciples in front of the temple saw Hepburn and frantically opened the doors .
They saw the shadow scythe under Hepburn’s chin, but no one commented on it . Rather, they didn’t meet her eyes, like it would be disrespectful to her if she did .
An apostle was the god’s avatar . It was clear this was considered to be true seeing how they treated her .
So Yeon-woo followed Hepburn down a hallway and stood in front of a large door .
As if the 4 meter tall door was showing Urd’s personality, it was simple, other than the decoration of the gold wheel on it .
But Yeon-woo knew the moment he saw it .
It was heavy .
No, maybe it was deep . But from one hand, it seemed wide, and it seemed high from another . It even emanated a cozy feeling .
Something unknown was hiding behind the door .
And as if agreeing with Yeon-woo, the Black Bracelet and Vigrid slightly rang . And he could feel Aegis crying in the subspace that it was in .
An immense strength was hiding .
It was different from what he felt with the Martial King or the Summer Queen .
“You feel it . Definitely . ”
Hepburn looked at Yeon-woo with mysterious eyes .
Yeon-woo narrowed his eyes .
“What are you saying?”
“Occasionally, we have people like that . People who feel what’s behind the closed door . Most of those people are people who are very sensitive, or have the holy sense . Or . ”
Hepburn’s gold eyes calmly shined .
“They have experience with godly power . ”
Yeon-woo couldn’t understand what Hepburn was saying .
“What’s behind this?”
“A god . ”
“What?”
There was a god here? And behind the door?
Gods couldn’t escape the 98th floor . The Three Norns always left their consciousness on the 16th floor because they didn’t want to be locked on the 98th floor, but they couldn’t descend with their complete body .
But Hepburn was saying there was a god behind this .
Yeon-woo sent her questioning eyes, but Hepburn politely bowed like he would know if he went in and took a step back .
“From here, this is the holy territory that the god is located in . I didn’t receive the permission to step in, so I cannot come with you . ”
Holy territory was the territory of the god .
Like how Yeon-woo had absolute power using his Draconic territory, a god could use their power in the limited section of the holy territory .
Yeon-woo hesitated, not liking the situation, but he stepped in front of the door .
Even if he went in, his communication with the Monster Portent in Hepburn’s shadow wouldn’t be cut off .
No, he thought this was actually better .
Since he was curious about the existence of a god . He thought he would be able to know if he met Urd, so he opened the door .
Creak-
Darkness surrounded him . It was dark enough that he couldn’t tell where the front or back was, but Yeon-woo headed in without any hesitation .
Bang!
The door shut and isolated him . And he went deeper inside the dark, he could feel the territory slightly dissipating .
And in its place, something else took over .
In the endless darkness, what Yeon-woo saw was so large that it seemed like there was no end .
A similar strength to what he had felt outside of the door . It felt wide, high, and deep .
Not able to know where its limits were, Yeon-woo felt like he had become a small and helpless existence like a firefly .
When he felt it on the outside, he thought that it would be a strength not able to be understood .
But faced with it now, he couldn’t even recognize it .
‘This is… . . a god . ’
Yeon-woo unknowingly mused to himself . The god in front of him was really distant .
He thought of Hermes, who he had met in Olympus’s treasury . Then, he hadn’t been able to feel his presence at all . This was the complete opposite .
No, actually, this was correct . Hermes had been considerate of the weak Yeon-woo, and Urd didn’t feel the need to .
To a god, a human was just a simple microbe .
Like how a grain of sand of sand castle wiped away the waves couldn’t be found, or like how the light of a firefly couldn’t be seen in front of the sun . His existence was too poor .
He felt like he would be blown away if his opponent just blew softly with their mouth .
No, before that, wouldn’t his existence be eaten up?
He felt like he was in critical danger, like he would disappear like a candlelight without even realizing what was happening .
Yeon-woo immediately pulled his Magic Circuit to the max . He spun his 360 Cores and sent magic power to each of them, and spread his wings of fire apart to wrap around his body for protection .
So he wouldn’t just disappear, so he could feel something, he forced himself to attention .
And blocking outer influences with his magic power, he lifted his head .
[Combat Will]
Yeon-woo pulled his consciousness as much as he could and focused on one thing .
He didn’t know exactly where the god was . However, Yeon-woo thought none of it mattered .
This was holy territory . It was where the god’s consciousness was, and where a god themself was . So it was clear where he looked, he would feel a gaze .
And . Like he was correct, and a firm voice pierced Yeon-woo’s head .
[You’re quite a tenacious child . Well, I guess you have to have that much to make a mess of the youngest’s temple . ]
A voice that sounded like it was laughing at him . No, there was more of a cold tone to it .
Yeon-woo became more nervous . And he added fire to his defense and took his left hand to his Black Bracelet .
It was to move the shadow on Hepburn if something went wrong .
Yeon-woo’s intent was visible to Urd .
[I don’t know why you’re so wary of me . I promised I wouldn’t hurt you, and I don’t planto . But you don’t try to hide your sword . ]
“Because I don’t know what you’re thinking . ”
[Considering you’re a successor of the ancient dragon’s power, you’re quite careful . Lizards are usually nothing without their pride . I don’t know how you got such power . ]
The ancient dragon’s successor . She was talking about Kalatus’s power that he got from his brother .
Like a god that observed the past, Urd was able to see all the paths he had taken so far .
So he ignored her gaze, and directly asked .
“Why did you call for me?”
The trial of the 16th floor was very simple . Asking a question to a priest, and they would deliver the goddess’s words . That was it .
The difficulty might be easy, but the response from the goddesses could be important to the player’s future . So everyone carefully progressed with the trial .
However, no one had ever met with a goddess themselves . His brother had chosen Verdandi on the 16th floor, and he had immediately passed after hearing a few words .
So Yeon-woo could only be suspicious of what Urd had come herself .
[I guess you want to leave as soon as you can . ]
Yeon-woo didn’t reply .
Urd continued in a cynical voice, like it didn’t matter .
[Just because . ]
“Just… . . because?”
It was a completely unexpected answer . Yeon-woo frowned under the mask .
And Urd’s laughs became louder .
[Yeah . Just because . As you can see, there’s almost no visitors here . And the people here consider me worthless almost all the time . I happened to hear that someone had turned over the youngest’s temple when I was bored, so I was interested .
[Even if we can’t move, a god is a god . It’s not common to see a player dare to destroy a temple . Even the fellows who hate us don’t try to have us as their enemies . But you kicked it away . ]
Yeon-woo shut his mouth .
[So I wanted to see you once . And I heard that you haven’t finished the trial of the 16th floor, so I was waiting here thinking that you would come back . Then I met you like this . That’s it . ]
[The trial has been finished . ]
[You have succeeded in meeting the goddess Urd . You have achieved an accomplishment not easily achieved . Additional Karma is being rewarded . ]
[You have earned 5,000 Karma . ]
[You have earned 3,000 Karma . ]
[The earned Karma is being combined with your total Karma . ]
[Will you put your name on the hall of fame?]
Yeon-woo’s eyes became bigger at the unexpected messages .
He still didn’t know what Urd was thinking .
[I’ve seen many humans here . They were all regretting something about their past . They were all the same bunch . ]
People who couldn’t escape from the past . And people who couldn’t live their present and future because they couldn’t leave their past .
[There was one thing they wanted, not being able to escape the past . To escape it . They asked me how to gain the future . They wanted to somehow find their lives . ]
Life was a present that was created by layers of the past, and these presents combined to make the future .
The present and the future justified life .
In other words, life was hope .
[But . You’re different . Very . ]
Yeon-woo thought Urd was smiling .
And he thought he knew why Urd had called him .
[You have no regrets . And at the same time, you are swimming towards a deeper past . In that, you endlessly repeat blaming yourself . At the end, there is no ‘you . ’ Just your dead brother . ]
[So I ask . If you can do this . To yourself . Your brother closed his eyes sadly, but you can’t leave a happy life because of your guilt, so you continue to push yourself into despair . And you make yourself suffer . ]
Veins popped out in his clenched fist .
[And you suspect . Your brother was betrayed by his trusted friends . Then . Can I do the same? Can I trust the people around me?]
[These people seem different than them, but your brother also thought he would live forever with them . Betrayal can come anytime . So you continue to be wary of them . Isn’t that right?]
Yeon-woo grit his teeth .
[Suspect and suspect even more . ]
Urd’s voice became louder . It kept on making his head ring .
[Don’t trust, and don’t trust even more . ]
The darkness around Yeon-woo tided . It all shifted and beat his emotions like they were waves .
It was the craziness of someone caught by their past .
[Those with you can turn their backs anytime . If they want to . If you don’t fit their goals . They can cut your neck anytime . So hurt them before you get hurt . Move before they move . Chew them up, and rip them apart . Then you won’t be hurt . Then you won’t be in pain . ]
Yeon-woo brought his fire up as much as he could . So he wouldn’t be swept away by the waves .
Just by being open to them he felt like he would disappear .
[You may want to ask . Why you have to do that . Isn’t that obvious . ]
But he also thought . The craziness of Urd was somehow familiar .
[Don’t say you don’t know . Don’t avoid it . ]
Urd knew Yeon-woo’s mind inside and out . And she picked out a place from his memory .
Africa .
[Isn’t that how you lived until now? The life you lived, it’s always been like that . Even if the smell of blood and fire spread, even in that hell-like battlefield . And this palace isn’t too different . However, you’re only forcing it down . ]
An event from the past flashed past his eyes . Urd playing a memory that he had hidden away .
He wanted to push it away, but the video in front of his eyes didn’t stop .
In that place, Yeon-woo was moving through a mountain . Hunger and thirst . Tiredness from a long battle . Bullets that pierced his sides . His comrades, who had disappeared while he fainted . He had to survive, and he slowly trudged by .
With the anger of the comrades who left him behind .
He trusted them until the end, but his hate towards those who betrayed his trust moved his body along .
And he moved again . Then, he met them in the process . He killed, and killed again .
That was probably when it was made .
Always moving within Yeon-woo’s mind . The monster that whispered to him like a demon .
[So pull it out . ]
Yeon-woo woke up from his reverie . He felt like he woke up from a nightmare .
Urd was trying to tie him to his past .
But then .
He felt like he could see Urd herself past the darkness .
She was definitely smiling, revealing her teeth .
[The monster, that’s still inside . ]
With the same appearance of the damned bastard that was inside his heart .
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