Chapter 34

Chapter 34. Investigation Chief Abdulla

Asgard was in upheaval.

Fear and distrust spread like a plague.

The reason was singular.

Ding!

[Grave Tidings.]
['Grande, the High-ranking Fire God,' has been slain.]
[His existence has been completely erased from Asgard.]

It wasn't some Lesser god.

A high-ranking god.

And not just any—Grande, one of the patriarchs of the fire faction, was dead.

A being who had endured eons and amassed formidable Divinity.

And he had been annihilated without leaving so much as a scream.

"This can't be real."

"Grande's been killed? By whom? Who?!"

The gods murmured in agitation.

Until now, they had considered it someone else's problem.

A few Lesser gods dying off had been dismissed as accidents befalling the unlucky.

But this time was different.

The death of a high-ranking god was tantamount to a decree that no one in this Tower was safe.

"What is the Investigation Team doing?!"

"Catch the culprit at once!"

Shouts flew back and forth.

But Investigation Chief Abdulla's expression was bleak.

He had combed every scene with a fine-tooth comb.

The results were devastating.

"...There's nothing."

Nothing at all.

Signs of a fierce battle? None.

Aftershocks from clashing divine power? None.

Not even a single shard of Grande's Divinity remained.

It was as clean as if a giant eraser had simply wiped the slate.

"Vaporized."

Abdulla clenched his fists.

The culprit hadn't killed Grande—they had swallowed him whole.

There was no other explanation for this level of cleanliness.

"Chief, the pressure from above is intensifying."

A deputy reported, face drained of color.

"They say if we can't identify the culprit, the Investigation Team will be disbanded."

"......I know."

Abdulla ground his teeth.

There was nowhere left to retreat.

Conventional methods couldn't even find the culprit's trail.

He had to break the rules.

Even if it meant committing a taboo, he had to flush the killer out.

Abdulla made his decision.

He headed straight for the central council chamber.

Countless gods were gathered there.

A cauldron of anxiety, fear, and rage.

Abdulla took the podium.

"I am Investigation Chief Abdulla."

The assembly fell silent.

Every eye fixed on him.

They wanted answers.

But what left Abdulla's mouth was not an answer—it was a shocking proposal.

"I present a motion."

He steadied his breathing.

"I request the public disclosure of Avatar information for all gods currently participating in the 'Earth Game.'"

"......What?"

"Are you mad? You want to break the Game's unwritten law?"

Outrage erupted.

Anonymity.

The gods' last bastion of pride and the very fun of the Game.

Playing god among humans without anyone knowing who was who.

Demanding they strip that away was like asking them to dance naked.

"Hear me out!"

Abdulla shouted.

A commanding presence that silenced the room.

"A high-ranking god has been killed!"

He slammed his fist on the podium.

"The culprit is the 'god hunter.' There is a strong possibility that he already knows who is participating in the Game and where they are."

Everyone went silent.

It was an undeniable fact.

The culprit had been hunting with surgical precision, targeting only gods engaged in the Game.

Without that knowledge, the timing of each kill would have been impossible.

"It appears...... the culprit strikes the true body when it is focused on its Avatar. At the crucial moment when the true body drops its guard."

Most of the slain gods had died when an episode started.

In other words, the killer was deliberately selecting only gods engaged in the Game.

There was also an information asymmetry.

The culprit could see them, but they couldn't see the culprit.

"That is why we need to know first."

Abdulla appealed.

"We need to know who is operating where, under what name. Only then can we predict who the god hunter will target next. Only then can we set traps or provide protection."

The gods eyed one another.

Resistance lingered, but fear was greater.

The fear that the next one could be me.

"......If it's limited to the Lesser gods."

Someone muttered.

"Right. Forcing it on mid-tier and above may be too much, but disclosing the Lesser gods' information makes sense from an oversight standpoint."

It was selfishness.

The higher gods intended to hide their own information and use the Lesser gods as bait.

But for Abdulla, that alone was enough.

As long as it could lead to the culprit's trail.

"Very well. Then I will consider the motion passed, limited to Lesser gods."

Abdulla's eyes gleamed.

Then he produced a single document from his coat.

The most important matter.

The Investigation Team's conclusion regarding the cause of this crisis.

"And one more thing."

His voice dropped low.

"We have formulated a hypothesis regarding the culprit's identity."

The gods' ears pricked up.

"A 'Mad God.'"

A forbidden word.

Beings erased from the Tower's history.

"The god hunter...... may be a god who has gone insane."

"A Mad God, you say?"

"Good heavens......!"

Mad Gods.

They did not follow the rules.

They had neither reason nor order.

Monsters who craved only destruction and slaughter.

When a god fell to madness, it would devour its own kind to replenish its power.

However, there was still something puzzling.

"Can a Mad God truly roam the Tower of God freely?"

"If it has lost its reason, it should be rampaging indiscriminately."

"Surely you don't mean it has reached the second stage?"

Even among Mad Gods, there were stages.

Stage one: Berserk.

The Mad God Tulkachya had been at this first stage.

A state of lost self, pursuing nothing but destruction.

They even killed other gods and absorbed their power.

If one advanced beyond that to the second stage, it regained the ability to 'think.'

Outwardly, there were no signs.

And that was precisely what made it terrifying.

Existing outside the Tower's rules while hiding among the gods within the Tower.

But in all the long ages, a second-stage Mad God had never appeared.

Every one of them had been discovered and sealed or destroyed before reaching that point.

"If it has reached the second stage, wouldn't disclosing the Avatar roster be a mistake?"

"We might actually be handing the culprit more information."

"...You're saying it could be among us, right now."

A valid concern.

The possibility that it was in this very room existed.

Disclosing the Avatar roster could produce unintended consequences.

But Abdulla shook his head.

"The god hunter already knows. Therefore, letting the culprit know that we also know will only make us safer."

They would tighten surveillance.

If they monitored even just the Lesser gods' Avatars, answers would follow.

And if the hunter stopped targeting Lesser gods, that would be telling in itself.

'It would be proof that the god hunter is inside the Tower.'

And watching the Investigation Team from somewhere very close.

***

'Floor 7 already.'

From Floor 2 to Floor 7.

Five floors in a single leap.

Having absorbed five gods including Grande, it was only natural.

But I couldn't stop.

War with Cryos was imminent.

I needed to build my strength.

That was when it happened.

HUMMMM!

Space opened.

Someone had come calling without prior notice.

The killing intent was too thick for a guest, and the bearing too brazen for an enemy.

Men in uniform.

And at their head, a single man.

"I am Investigation Chief Abdulla."

The head of the gods' Investigation Team.

He surveyed my territory.

Wherever his gaze lingered, frost seemed to settle.

Eventually his eyes landed on the Frost Tribe elves in training.

Then Angragon on my shoulder, and the Holy Sword Abriel floating at my side.

"Oh my."

Abdulla twisted the corner of his lips.

"Quite the remarkable floor. Extravagant, even, for a Lesser god's residence."

Polite language.

But barbed.

He was suspicious.

Whether this lavish floor had been built through legitimate means.

I asked with feigned composure.

"What brings the Investigation Chief to my humble abode?"

"Surely you are aware."

Abdulla produced a warrant from his coat.

A document shimmering with golden light.

It bore the seal of the central council.

"Special measures have been ordered to apprehend the culprit behind the recent string of god killings."

He stared straight through me.

"The order is to secure the Avatar roster of every Lesser god participating in the Game."

"......"

"There is no right of refusal. Should you provide false testimony, the System will detain you immediately."

It had come.

Inwardly, I tensed.

Outwardly, I gave nothing away.

Abdulla held out his hand.

Above his palm, the 'Scales of Truth'—a lie-detecting artifact—materialized.

"I will now ask, Lord Rag."

Abdulla's eyes flashed.

"Are you currently enjoying the Game on Earth? Have you created an Avatar?"

A life-or-death moment.

If I lied, the Scales would tip and I'd be flagged as a suspect immediately.

But if I told the truth, my identity would be exposed.

Checkmate.

That was how it must have looked.

But I smirked.

I shook my head.

"No."

I said it firmly.

"I do not play the Game on Earth. I have no Avatar there."

Ding!

The Scales trembled.

But they did not tip.

They held level.

"......!"

Level meant truth.

Abdulla's eyes widened.

Of course.

Because it wasn't a lie.

What existed on Earth was not my Avatar.

It was my true body.

The human called Kim Jeong-seok.

If anything, the Avatar was here in Asgard—'Rag.'

My Game was not Earth but this Tower of God.

I had not spoken a single falsehood.

"......You don't have one?"

Abdulla stroked his chin, puzzled.

The Scales did not lie.

Then he truly had no Avatar.

"Hmm. Fair enough."

He nodded as though convinced.

"You only arrived at the Tower recently. You must not have had the chance to create an Avatar yet."

He was treating me like a greenhorn.

A fresh-faced god who didn't even know the fun of the Game.

"Why not create one now? You must have received the system notification when the Earth Game began."

"Not interested."

I refused flatly.

"As you can see."

I pointed at the elves in training.

"War with Cryos is imminent. I have no time to waste peering at Earth."

A perfect justification.

War preparations.

Who had the luxury to enjoy a game when survival was on the line?

Even Abdulla couldn't argue with that.

"A fair point."

He withdrew the warrant.

Inwardly, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I'd gotten through.

Past the biggest hurdle.

But Abdulla didn't back off.

His eyes narrowed like a snake's.

"Then allow me to make a proposal."

"A proposal?"

A bad feeling.

What was he scheming?

Abdulla smiled.

"I will station an investigator here."

"......An investigator? Why?"

"They will be assigned to this floor permanently. To protect Lord Rag against any contingency and to intercept potential intruders."

Protection? Surveillance?

'Protection' was a nice word for it—what he meant was shackling me.

Above all, there was one critical problem.

'Logout.'

When I returned to Earth, Rag's body here fell asleep.

Completely defenseless.

A body that wouldn't wake no matter how much you shook it.

If an investigator saw that?

'I'd be caught.'

A god who sleeps?

Dead to the world, at that?

It would invite suspicion instantly.

I'd claimed to have no Avatar, yet if my body went limp like a shell with its soul ripped out, nothing would add up.

They'd dig in relentlessly.

"I refuse."

I scowled.

"Placing someone else in my territory is unpleasant. I'll protect myself."

"This is a decision from central."

Abdulla pushed back hard.

"It is a protective measure for Lesser gods. Refusal may be construed as obstruction of an investigation. Unless......"

He took a step closer.

Then, with a sly grin:

"You have something to hide?"