Editor: Tide
Proofreader: Hydragea
Antarctica (3)
“The boss is finally here.”
A man came out to talk about the damage dealt.
The Ruler looked dull, perhaps because he was in Thomas’ decapitated body. But his mobility and momentum proved that the Ruler’s power didn’t come from the skeleton.
“Eck-hek-hek.”
Thanks to him, Lee Joon-suk was constantly coughing behind me.
Lee Jun-seok, who was spitting blood, seemed to have calmed down a bit with Yong-Yong’s help. Now, he choked out dry coughs instead of blood.
I was annoyed.
When the Ruler saw Lee Joon-suk fall, he clicked his tongue and muttered, “That little friend of yours is too weak.”
I felt the same. Yong-yong took action after taking care of Lee Joon-suk for a while, placing him in the box where the mantis was trapped.
Since Yong-yong designed it himself, it would be safe. However, trapping Lee Joon-suk in a narrow space with the mantis would be hazardous.
The mantis had fallen to pet status in just one day, but it was still a human-eating monster.
Lee Joon-suk must be a coveted prey, so it wouldn’t be good to leave him there for a long time no matter how transparent the box was.
Yong-yong looked down at the box as if he could read my concerns. “You shouldn’t fight because your house suddenly got cramped. I’ll get him out of there in a second.”
The mantis did not attack Lee Joon-suk. It was too afraid to do that. Rather, the mantis held onto Lee Joon-suk and tried to hide behind him.
It was still in plain view, though.
The Ruler looked at the box and then at Yong-yong and questioned, “That kid. Is he a dragon? I think I’m pretty close.”
“That’s right. Pretty, isn’t he?”
I didn’t receive any objections. The Ruler looked at me for a moment, then turned to Yong-yong again.
To be exact, he looked at the box hung around Yong-yong’s neck—at the wriggling mantis in the box.
“I wish I had eaten that idiot in silence. I don’t know why it ran away, but it got what it deserved,” the Ruler said with a grin.
It seemed that he was the one who had known the mantis before. This was good news. Later, I could compare the information we heard from the mantis with that of this guy.
I thought we’d go into battle as soon as the Ruler showed up, but he was unexpectedly calm. Was he not interested in the dungeon?
Let’s take it like that for now.
“Why didn’t you try to find it again? It was easy to find.”
“It’s easy to find, but there’s no way for me to get out of the dungeon. If I went out of the dungeon, I would have to give up because the Hundred Gods’ Temple would have an excuse to come after me.”
I knew it. But inside the dungeon, it could show up like this, like the Pantheon’s Gods who came to the 61st floor.
It was interesting. I needed to find out about the Temples’ rules soon. Without knowing the details, I could only speculate on what was allowed for them.
“I was thinking of raising this guy and catching the mantis later,” the Ruler said, pointing to Thomas’ body.
He intended to grow Thomas and bring the mantis to the dungeon.
“I’m afraid he’s dead.”
“Why didn’t you save him then?”
“No point.” The Ruler shook his head.
“I chose this one because he was simple. He had no thoughts and was primitive. Normal amounts of hedonism and selfishness. He was easy to use, but I can’t use him anymore.”
“Why?”
“Because he felt afraid.”
“Fear is quite a common emotion.”
It was so primitive that it was hard to find anything to compare.
“That’s the fear that exists behind. But the fear in front is a little different.”
I didn’t quite understand, and I wasn’t interested. I wanted to say something, but nothing came to mind.
It wasn’t good if I didn’t say anything. When collecting information by eliciting the words of the other party, it acted as a significant weakness.
“Don’t you know?”
“Huh?”
“If you’ve been through a world created by the gods, shouldn’t you know the difference between being chased by fear and being blocked by fear?”
I wasn’t interested. I was curious about something else.
“You must know about me.”
“Of course. I heard a new god had appeared in the Tutorial. I expected to meet you someday because this is your home planet. And…”
“And?”
“The disgrace of the Hundred Gods’ Temple is the most talked-about thing in recent years, so it can’t be unknown.”
That was why he was so calm. If he knew what had happened between the gods and me on the 61st floor, he might have expected me to come to the Dungeon and make a big fuss.
“Did you expect me to come?”
What is this Ruler thinking?
Before I came, this dungeon was utterly defenseless against me. Was he just going to throw away the dungeon because he’d already extracted enough energy? Maybe he wanted a proper compromise?
It appeared that the Ruler was trying to talk calmly.
“Yes, shall we talk about it? Now that we’re sharing the same zone, we’ll have to clean up each other’s territory,” the Ruler said and waved his hands toward the floor.
The food lying on the floor and the smashed table vanished, and instead, a small table and two chairs appeared.
Summoning. The Ruler brought furniture prepared in another dimension.
The ability seemed great because of the shift between dimensions, but it was akin to using a space attributed to individuals, similar to an inventory.
The Ruler said while sitting in a chair, “God of Horror.”
I had no choice but to sit in the chair and ask back, “What?”
“Horror, that’s my title.”
The Ruler even gave his name. At this point, I was utterly confused.
Why do these guys believe and approach me in a friendly manner?
“Your name?”
“Why would I let you know that?” I questioned him.
The Ruler smiled despite my sudden change of attitude, and replied, “You’re also a newborn. There’s a lot you don’t know yet.”
I didn’t think it was necessary. Either way, he began to explain.
“Gods are not meant to be hidden. Just knowing and recognizing you is huge. What’s more, if your opponent is a god, that’s even better. Some of the new gods even go to the gods they know to promote their identities.”
Oh, come on.
He was explaining obvious stuff as if it were the truth of life. He spoke like an old man.
I never asked you anything, did I?
He seemed to think his opponents were ignorant: an attitude of condescension and self-flattery. It wasn’t an attitude I liked.
In any case, the Ruler highlighted himself as a senior god and hinted that he could give useful advice.
He thought we were going to compromise through talking.
“Now, tell me your name.”
I’m sorry, but I don’t mean to give you my name.
I wasn’t interested in the sad benefits of informing him. Above all, I didn’t intend to reveal my identity and let him analyze me.
Lastly, “It’d be good if I’m the only one who knows my name.”
The Ruler laughed aloud. “You’re young, after all. Whatever. Sooner or later, even if you don’t want to, you’ll find me and let me know.”
He’s getting on my nerves.
“Let’s talk, then. First of all, it’s about each other’s territory. I need to know what you’re doing. If you’re not interested in this planet, I can introduce you to another.”
“No, there’s something we need to talk about before that.”
“What should we talk about first?”
Why did this guy start without the most important thing?
“Put out everything you’ve eaten from Earth so far.”
Of course, I didn’t intend to return it. It was better to start from here.
“…what?” The Ruler had a ridiculous look on his face. “For what reason? You stupid little God, you still seem to be bound by the ideas of a mortal. You don’t have ownership because it’s your home planet. There is only one factor in the world of gods that determines everything.”
“It’s power.”
I didn’t want to listen to him, who only stated the obvious. I let a shadow rise from under his feet and tied him to it.
“It’s a spectacle! It’s a spectacle! No matter how young of a god you are, why be this ignorant and reckless?!”
Even after being completely enveloped by the shadow, the Ruler continued to shout.
It was a fresh reaction.
“This corpse is just a body I’m temporarily using. The use of an incarnated body is the basic means a god uses to govern many dimensions. Even if you kill this body, I won’t be affected. It’s just one useless hand and foot missing.”
The incarnated body was no different from the gods using apostles.
However, unlike clones, an incarnated body was also a part of the god. It was safe to say it was like an alter ego.
The Hundred Gods’ Temple and the Pantheon gods, who were unable to enter the realm of other gods, chose to increase their sphere of action using apostles.
The Ruler was misunderstanding two things. I was not ignorant of incarnations, and I was confident.
Few people had more knowledge of incarnations and cloning than I did. I was even on par with the few gods associated with it.
“You will regret it! How dare you be so rude?! To create a new… on…”
His words cut off for obvious reasons. Little by little, his shadow was devouring his body.
“Let me ask one question to our knowledgeable senior god.”
The perfectionist had a ‘dark’ face. I wasn’t talking about his skin color. The skin had been dull from the start since it was a corpse.
But his loss of focus and trembling lips, apart from the skin color, made the expression ‘dark’.
The mantis said he remembered when the source ate him and made him a monster.
If the Ruler was also the same, he must be feeling it: the same feeling as when the source’s power consumed him.
“If the incarnation in front of me is eaten, will your body be safe?”
An apostle, or incarnation, is part of a god and yet separate at the same time.
If they wanted to say the incarnations weren’t them, they could cut off the link, but on the contrary, they could also accidentally link themselves to the incarnation just by mentioning it.
If the connection between the incarnation and the body remained, it was a piece of cake to take advantage of the link.
In my opinion, showing their incarnation to others was tantamount to establishing one’s weakness.
The god of horror had talked about limbs, but I’d rather take out the heart and let it wander separately.
The shadow, once tied to the incarnation, began to be gradually pushed out. I think he’d finally made up his mind.
Instead of being held in vain by the incarnated body, the God of Horror chose to use his main body.
“Yong-Yong.”
As soon as I called Yong-yong, I sensed him taking the others across the space.
The God of Horror immediately took on his form. As he roared, the world fell apart.
The dungeon instantly disappeared. We were no longer in the dungeon, and the Antarctic was melting.
The place where I stood would sooner or later melt completely and sink under the sea. The Old Man would enjoy watching this scenery, but Grandma probably wouldn’t.
In the aftermath of the explosion, snow flew around and blocked the view. The thick steam created by melted snow and ice also played a part.
Standing in the Antarctic’s glacial zone, the image of the great God of Horror loomed over the white fog.
At last, a Ruler with a god’s title had appeared on Earth.
[You stupid thing! You will have to pay for your audacity!]
From up there, I could sense a significant loss of power. The battle of divine beings was relatively primitive.
There was no such thing as an abstract and ideological struggle that I’d imagined as a human being.
The gods, unable to interfere with each other’s existence, ironically used old and basic combat methods.
The most definitive answer, and one I favor quite a lot, was to crush and kill the opponent with overwhelming strength.
“Zit pop.”
Note from Imagine: What do you guys think Hojae is the god of right now? Leave your guesses in the comments section (though he’s prolly gonna end up something like the god of all existence but what is Hojae the god of right now?)