Chapter 271 - Tutorial 59th floor (6)
Editor: Tide
At the time of the last Tournament, I had learned that Ahbooboo was directly linked to the God of the Sky. Furthermore, the God of the Sky and Ahbooboo could communicate with each other. It turned out that the God of the Sky tried to find out about me through Ahbooboo. After I found out about it, he spoke to me himself.
It wasn’t very pleasant for me or Ahbooboo, whose friendship had been exploited to collect information on me. The God of the Sky acknowledged it, and promised to pay a good price. He was a deity that spoke quite well.
[God of the Sky designates his new object, Aubutz, as an apostle.]
[The result of the vote will be nullified as the God of the Sky has appointed Aubutz as an apostle.]
In the Tutorial, the apostles covered a very large base. There may be many reasons why this was the case, but I think the primary reason was that apostles were somewhat free from restrictions.
Even the gods of the Temple couldn’t do what they wanted unless they voted. The only exception would be the level of events within one’s new area, as the God of Hope did.
But the apostles who had made a contract with a God were relatively free to move. It was revealed several times through stages. When the gods had to intervene, the challenger was always acting as an apostle, or an actual apostle was summoned.
Perhaps the restrictions were not applied to the gods in their own domain, or to their own believers and their direct subordinates. From a god’s point of view, the apostles were not constrained, and at the same time a lot of power could be deployed anywhere. It was what the gods wanted. They wished for the apostles to intervene in what happened outside their sphere of influence: to eradicate the monster of source, and to collect its core.
So, one of the goals of the Tutorial was to foster the apostles. I’d been looking at the challengers the gods may be using as apostles for a long time.
[Oh, my God! I’ll now be called Apostle Aubutz of the Sky!] Ahbooboo screamed with excitement.
He must be in a good mood. Well, he didn’t seem sincere, but he had positive views on the God of the Sky, the Order, and was quite proud of himself. Even though his appointment as an apostle was a reluctant promotion.
“You know it’s all thanks to me, right?”
[Of course, of course. Do you want me to act cute? Hmm?]
I almost swore out loud, but somehow put up with it. Now that he had just become an apostle, even the God of the Sky was staring at him. It was a bit of a shame to call him a bad name and give a slap on his face.
“Then let’s go on to the next job.”
At this moment, 200,000 humans were being trampled to death like ants, and half of them were already dead.
The battle between the two native gods, who couldn’t be seen properly, was fierce. I was worried that the world would really collapse. Half of the humans still survived because the gods had no interest in them. If they decided to deal neatly with the humans and keep fighting, it would take less than a minute for all the remaining humans to be wiped out.
[By the way, are you really going to do that? It’s okay to keep it this way. I can assist you.]
How could that be called an aid? If I just jumped into the battle with the gods, it was obvious I could only aid Ahbooboo and not the other way around. Could the terms be changed?
[But it’s still a waste. Again, this is a deal. Your arm won’t recover no matter how many times you use elixirs.]
“It’s alright.”
[Still…]
“It’s alright.” I said it was alright repeatedly, but Ahbooboo was hesitant. I was thinking about how to persuade him, when Seregia, who had been silent, stepped up.
[Quick. I don’t want to wait any longer.]
[But Lady Seregia, this is Warrior’s arm. His arm is important…]
[It’s not my arm, it doesn’t matter.] Seregia was indifferent, which was a bit disappointing. [And as Warrior said, it’s worth losing an arm.]
That’s right.
Clearly, Seregia had a similar way of thinking with me. The cost of consumption was high, but the result was more than enough.
Pain? I didn’t care about pain. Inconvenience? It would be withstandable.
[Yes. Well then.] Ahbooboo hardened his mind, and murmured the spell and paid attention to his words. I didn’t understand yet, but that was the order of the spell. It was a spell I could learn someday.
[Thank you for the meal, then.]
I was worried about myself, but I didn’t think much. At the end of Ahbooboo’s words, red solid lines like cobwebs spread on my left arm. My arms quickly turned red, followed by the ever-tightening red lines. A force that seemed to consume the flesh inside, followed by hellish pain gradually consumed my arm, which quickly vanished into thin air. My left arm had been sacrificed in a short time that one would take to get a glass of water.
[Thank you for the meal!!]
You’re very excited.
My arm had been cut to the part adjacent to the shoulder. Blood oozed from the cross section, but thanks to the resilience accumulated so far, the bleeding stopped and the flesh healed quickly. My arm did not regenerate, but the wound did not cause further damage.
I once thought that if I grew up like this, I would become a troll. When I was targeting the first and second floors, I kept thinking of rolling and breaking every time. But before I knew it, I had become a monster that was hard to compare with a troll. It was an interesting appreciation.
Ahbooboo’s core, which used to be blue, was now red. In addition to being appointed an apostle, his power had grown beyond comparison, perhaps because of consuming my arm. More importantly, Ahbooboo, I, and the God of the Sky were connected.
A huge shout from the native gods came from afar. I had not seen the native gods before. The aftermath of the power they wielded was the only thing I saw, but now, they were showing themselves.
The images of the two gods were reminiscent of the dragon of the East and the dragon of the West, just with less power and half their size. Now, I could clearly see them fighting.
The native gods were not even interested in me. To them, I was the same as all the other humans that were quickly dying off. Even if I exploded a Zit Pop or turned this area into a sea of fire, there would be no harm to them.
There was that big of a difference between having prestige and being below it. If someone shot me now, I’d be able to stop the bullet without much damage. However, the consumption value was not a complete zero. It was a very small number, about 0.001, if you had to quantify it, but it was safe to round it off to zero.
But those gods could make the blow completely zero. They could interfere with bullets and twist the law. Therefore, in order to attack a divine being, it was necessary to achieve the same level first.
[Challenger, the contract has been made.] the God of the Sky told me through Ahbooboo. Now, I was just waiting for the mana.
Through Ahbooboo, the divine power flowed into my body and I felt overwhelming, unimaginable pleasure. Power that came from outside; not mine. This had raised my standard to the next level.
At the moment when I felt the power that had flowed in, I forgot what I had to do. Now, I could understand why the sources lost themselves and became monsters as soon as they got their power. This was what real power was. One could put away all the missions, anguish, joy, and sorrow they had before. The curtain of power above one’s head was so beautiful that it made them abandon their previous lives without hesitation.
No matter what, the past was useless.
As such, the past was meant to be abandoned and get eroded into the present. That’s how they were eaten away in the present. They gave up the past and abandoned themselves, and hence, they gave themselves up to power. Strength was always priority. Power, not one’s own strength, becomes one’s self. The sources were monsters that were consumed by such power.
[Don’t confuse purpose and your means.]
[You shouldn’t be swayed by a weapon if you don’t want to become one.]
It was the advice of the two gods that I had heard under completely different circumstances. Somehow, however, it sounded like advice considering this situation. The two sentences kept ringing in my head, with the sound of a loud bell ringing in the distance, over and over again.
You must not be tempted by this temptation, you must wake up. This… Did I leave a message in my head in case this happened?
I laughed. I shouldn’t worry about it.
[Warrior?]
“Yeah?”
[You weren’t answering. Are you alright?]
“Of course.” I didn’t mean to be eaten up by power, and it was not a matter of mental strength. I would consume and throw it away if necessary, no matter how precious, powerful and great the power may be. I was prepared for that. Power was my weapon, and not the opposite. My goal was too precious to be eaten by power.
[Funny, funny! As you said, you will never be eaten by power. You’ve already been eaten up by your goal!] exclaimed the God of the Sky.
Either way, I turned my attention back to the native gods.
The two gods were still fighting each other, but now they acknowledged me because of the sudden emergence of power. I was sure they’d find it embarrassing, but instead of paying attention to me, the two gods were continuing to fight, and I didn’t like it.
[Go, Contractor. The power of the sky is with you.]
With my right arm, I grabbed the soul sword and swung it sideways. My power spread out along the length of the sword, and it glowed, making a sphere to protect humans from the fighting. The fireballs and ice falling from the sky were blocked. The distortion of space and time that occurred also disappeared.
This time, using a light sword, I threw the sword at the sky. A thin, but extremely hot fire penetrated the sky, landing precisely between the two native gods. The gods finally stopped fighting because of the luminous pillar that stood between them, and glanced at me.
Yeah, that’s right.
This was not a time for them to fight with each other. I made this opportunity for myself at the expense of my arm. The two gods had to come at me with full strength.
[Human?]
[Is it a human?]
[Sounds like one.]
The two gods spoke in bewildered voices. There was a huge echo, but there was neither dignity nor pressure in their voice.
[Demon, do not use up power unnecessarily. If you hand it over to me, I will give you everything on this continent.]
[Human, don’t listen to him. He will surely kill you as soon as he gains strength. I’m not the one who can’t be trusted.]
The native gods began to say something. Somehow, I felt like a lady who was being courted desperately by two people. They treated me as a trophy. Of course, the courtship of the two gods did not bother me at all.
“Sure. Zit Pop.” Instead of answering them, I used the technique. Huge light columns pierced the sky, and made everything explode, lighting up the world.
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