Chapter 234 – Truth about Calamities (2)

The primordial dragon explained.

“Unlike where you had come from, Summoned, this world is unstable. As if it was balanced atop a malformed crag.”

Androa continued his explanation.

“Many Lesser Gods have spoken. That god is dead.”

“Are you referring to the being on the far side of the stairs?”

Androa shook his head to Sungchul’s question and replied.

“I will not comment on the nature of that being, mortal. That is something that you have to find out for yourself. The most important thing is that, for whatever reason, the power that allowed this world to exist has disappeared.

Androa used his large talons to point to the ceiling of the cave.

“Imagine. What happens if the sun no longer shines from above, the boundaries of night and day meld away and the world merges with the Transcendent World?”

Sungchul was not someone confident in his creativity, but the picture Androa was drawing was vividly painted in his imagination.

“Annihilation… Are you talking about the utter destruction of this world?”

Androa nodded.

“The Calamities only bring death to those that live on the land. But Annihilation refers not only to the cleansing of all life both flora and fauna, but also the complete disintegration of reality itself.”

Androa lowered his voice and added.

“…And not even the Lesser Gods are exempt …!”

A look of distaste passed across Sungchul’s face for a moment.

“So in the end, the Calamity is a product of the Lesser Gods.”

“It is the creation of the Five Principle All-Fathers.”

Androa corrected him.

“…Doesn’t that mean that even the Five Principle All-Fathers are no different from Lesser Gods?”

Sungchul had a scowl as he retorted as if spitting out his words. But Androa didn’t affirm or deny or react in any other way and continued to speak as if uninterrupted.

“In order to stop the world from disintegrating as it is destined, the Five Principle All-Fathers  gathered the strength of the Lesser Gods of the Transcendent world to create the framework for which reality could persist to this day.”

“And that’s Calamity?”

Sungchul interjected with a sharp question in a scornful tone of voice. Androa shook his head and gave his reply in a forlorn tone.

“The Calamity is but a small piece of that.”

“Hoh?”

“After the power that maintained the fabric of reality was gone, this world was no longer capable of housing an unlimited number of lives and souls. The moment the number of lives exceeds the capacity of the world, terrible things will happen. Humans and Elves are especially burdensome to the world due to their high density souls. So a ritual to erase them became necessary.”

“And that’s the Calamity. But if humans are a burden to the world to keep, shouldn’t the solution be to just wipe them all out?”

Sungchul recalled Desfort’s face as he asked his question.

“Lives harm the balance of the world, but it’s also the source of the energy needed to keep the world intact. Too many lives become a burden but extinguishing all lives will lead to dooming this world. An unstable world has no choice but to find balance.”

“I see.”

Desfort knew all this and wanted to end the world. Sungchul oddly felt like he could guess as to what Desfort was thinking. He threw the next question.

“And the other part of the story?”

Sungchul crossed his arms and leaned against the cavern wall as he asked in a calm tone.

“The motive is the same as before, only the methods are different.”

“I would like it if you could explain in simpler terms.”

Androa nodded and blinked before he opened his mouth to speak.

“In terms of the burden on the world, an Immortal is equal to tens of thousands, or perhaps even millions of ordinary humans.”

“I thought that might be the case.”

Sungchul gave a thin grin as he recalled the bone chilling aura the Lesser Gods gave off when he saw them.

“The Lesser Gods wanted to prevent others from ascending to their place. And thus they began work on hiding the quests god had created. They were moved to where no human could ever hope to reach them. And because of it, the shape of the world has dramatically changed.”

Androa’s entire body was lit up with magic formations.

Sungchul immediately recognized it as a teleportation spell.

It only took a short incantation for both Sungchul and Androa to be brought to the surface in view of countless floating islands.

Androa looked to the sky where many floating islands were withstanding harsh winds. He spoke solemnly.

“There used to be so many Floating Islands in the past. All over the world. But now, only a small number of them still exist in the farthest corners of the world.”

“… They erased the path to god.”

Sungchul remembered the records left behind by a Lesser God named Hildegarm. The eldest dragon Androa’s words matched with Hildegarm’s records.

“And that wasn’t the end of it. The Lesser Gods wiped out the fairies that could bestow great power to the mortals. I’ve had a great many Fairy Kings as good friends. But they were all eradicated by the Lesser Gods.”

Androa looked to the skies and let out a sigh filled with grief. Breath of air imbued with dense remorse and sorrow was carried away by the powerful winds.

“It must be because of the Essence of the Spirits.”

Sungchul recalled the wondrous item he had obtained recently that was able to increase his stats. Androa nodded and then continued.

“The only Fairy King that survived is the last remaining World Tree Wigdrasil who is imprisoned in the Fae World. All other fairies who had lost their kings have lost any semblance of their dignity and do nothing but hide in the shadows of the Fae World and breathe.”

Sungchul recalled the sight of the Fairies that inhabited the dark places of the Fae World. He had thought them simply as treacherous and shady beings that reveled in past glory.

‘So they had that going on.’

“But there was a path that not even the Lesser Gods could erase. And that was the stairway that you climbed. The Lesser Gods were unable to bring harm to the stairs, so they surrounded it with tall mountains to take it out of view. And they had believed that was sufficient. That is, until now. It was widely believed that climbing the stairs to the top was impossible.”

Androa started another magic formation.

Sungchul and Androa were teleported into a cave made up of red amethyst. Sungchul looked over the brightly illuminated crystals without showing any emotions.

“Wow… so pretty.”

Bertelgia couldn’t help but mutter when she saw the crystals reflect lights with the color of bright flowers. She squirmed a bit.

Androa’s gaze briefly landed on Bertelgia, but he soon glared at Sungchul as he opened his mouth.

“But recently, those who were able to climb the stairs to the top have begun to appear one by one. Eckheart the Alchemist was one of them.”

“Eckheart you say.”

Bertelgia shivered.

“But he was unable to become the Tool of God.”

Sungchul’s eyes trembled.

Tool of God.

This is a term he had heard often throughout his long fight. But no one knew the meaning, or refused to explain even if they knew.

The only clue he had received was obtained upon destroying the Lesser God Sidmia. And even that information was tangential at best.

“What is a Tool of God?”

Sungchul asked the question. A deep shadow grew beneath Androa’s eyes.

“You said you didn’t have anything worth asking. Seems that wasn’t the case.”

“…”

“This will be the last question I will answer.”

Sungchul nodded to Androa’s solemn declaration.

Androa leaned a bit to the side.

A ray of light that had been obstructed by his large body was allowed into the cave and illuminated the red Amethyst walls. One ray of light reflected off of the crystals and illuminated the crystal’s vibrant colors all over. The light reflected off the walls gave Androa the appearance of the rising sun in the east.

Androa opened his mouth as he bathed in the red light.

“I would like to speak to you alone.”

He was trying to get Bertelgia to leave.

Sungchul looked at Bertelgia, and Bertelgia voluntarily came out of the pocket and flew into the air.

A magic formation swallowed her and teleported her away.

Androa began his explanation once they were alone in the red cave.

“According to the Evil Gods, the true god they served wished for the destruction of the universe. But the Five Principle All-Fathers and allied Lesser Gods prevented total annihilation and have successfully kept the world intact for all this time. Evil Gods have waged war to stop them but were ultimately defeated. They were forced to watch from the shadows as the world continued to remain intact for eons. But to them remained one last hope.”

“…”

Sungchul’s chest began to beat loudly. He gripped his fist as he waited for what was to come next.

“Tool of God.”

“…”

“The Evil Gods use that term to indicate one who will destroy the false reality and bring the universe to ruin in order to fulfill the true god’s will.”

For a moment, Sungchul saw a vision of someone.

The first person he thought of was Ahmuge. Back in the Summoning Palace, she had informed him:

“I want to save the world from a Calamity of Annihilation.”

Her face disappeared and was scattered by the scene of him running into Marakia. Another scene soon took its place before Sungchul’s eyes.

His whole body trembled.

A lone giant standing atop the continent covered in nothing but sun bleached bones.

That had taken up his vision. The monster that bore the same name as he slowly turned to look towards Sungchul. Sungchul had to stop himself from screaming when their eyes were about to meet.

“… Interesting story but there doesn’t seem to be much substance behind it.”

Sungchul tried his best to sound aloof.

“I also do not believe their words. It is the words of the Evil Gods after all. Except-”

Androa dragged the last word longer on his tongue.

“Your existence is trying to prove them right.”

“My existence…?”

Sungchul’s voice was shaking. Androa continued in a woeful voice as Sungchul steadily lost his composure.

“Many Lesser Gods did their best to return to the present because of their attachment to this world. But no Lesser God was successful. The total separation between mortals and immortals, this was a strict rule set forth by god. Of course there’s loopholes that can be taken advantage of to temporarily advant into the world, but we’ll ignore them for now because they’re not relevant at the moment.”

Androa continued to explain.

“But the Lesser Gods have always insisted that if an exception were to occur, then that individual would be a chosen one to carry out the will of god. A tool selected by god himself.”

Androa raised his hands that reflected the red lights of the cave and pointed his talons towards Sungchul.

“You have become something no mortal should ever become.”

Sungchul’s expression twisted, his fist were clenched harder. Androa spurred Sungchul for an answer.

“You know the reason too, don’t you?”

“I don’t…”

Sungchul shook his head but Androa cut him off with his regal voice.

“You who possess god-like power…”

“…”

“O’ Destroyer.”