Chapter 54

Chapter 54

Space changed in an instant.

It was a world of an endlessly stretching sea of clouds.

A world where an infinite Sea of Clouds spread beneath a gray sky!

It was certainly a magnificent sight that could leave one staring in a daze, but I did not have the leisure to appreciate it.

‘My consciousness is…… being crushed……!’

From the moment I entered this world, I could feel an enormous Thought-Force pressing down on me.

Not only that, but I felt as if my very soul was burning away and disappearing.

No, flames and smoke were actually rising from my entire body.

“……! ……!!”

The pain was so immense that I could not even scream properly.

If accepting the Dragon Jade had been the limit of pain suffered by the physical body, this was the pain of my spirit and flesh being extinguished at the same time.

My very existence could not endure this world.

[Hmm…… As expected, is it too difficult for you to withstand?]

withstandwithstandwithstandwithstandwithstand─────

The “voice” echoed in my ears.

The places where my ears had been burst open. It felt as if my brain was turning to mush.

I rolled my eyes back and slammed my head into the ground.

“He” placed a hand on my head.

Then I felt some kind of power flowing into my mind.

[Recite the Chant. It will become bearable…… Hm?]

His voice changed into one of doubt.

A “certain” incantation flowed into my head.

It mixed with my Mana and broke apart, and then I felt it settle into a new form.

Mana and Thought-Force strengthened that form more firmly.

The moment that process was complete,

“Haaaaaah!!!”

I was able to withstand the world, even if only a very small part of it.

[Ho…… What is this now?]

The being before my eyes spoke in a curious tone.

The whitish being of mist stroked his chin.

[A mere Ordinary Person without even a Precept has realized the meaning of Cultivation? You understood the principle of a mantra and applied that Principle to suit yourself. What an amusing one.]

Each time he laughed heartily, the mist rippled.

As though he found my action quite admirable.

I forced my body, which felt as if it was about to die, to pull itself together.

Even now, I felt nauseated and found it difficult to breathe, but I somehow endured and looked at the being before me.

“……Who are you?”

[Do not ask an answer you already know.]

Do not ask an answer I already know.

That was both an admission that my guess was correct, and at the same time, a sign that I should not speak that name aloud.

White Cloud Zen Master Jin Ryeon.

No…… The being who seemed to be something like Jin Ryeon’s phantom spoke.

[I am the residual Thought he left behind. A messenger left with this space for the Possessor of a later generation who would find this place.]

“What…… kind of place is this?”

[It is a small alternate space made by extracting one Precept from his Great Precept.]

“A Precept……?”

[A Precept is a pillar established by True Persons through cultivation. The moment one weaves and weaves those Precepts together to complete a single Great Precept, an Ordinary Person casts off the shell of a mortal and ascends to the place of a True Person.]

It meant that this was something necessary to reach the place of a True Person, that is, a Master.

A Master referred to a being who had seen the extreme of Aura.

Since the supreme technique they used was called the “Descent of the Great Precept,” I could tell that Precepts were one of the many conditions required to unfold that Descent of the Great Precept.

In other words, strictly speaking, I was seeing a very small part of the Descent of the Great Precept.

‘This is the power of just one…….’

I had only faced a fragment of a fragment, yet I had nearly died just from that.

Even though the other party had no intention of killing me, merely entering that space had almost extinguished my existence.

‘This is…… a Master.’

My fingertips trembled.

Although I had blown away an entire mountain, I had lost consciousness at the time, so the feeling had been somewhat vague.

Now that I faced this directly, an instinctive fear surged up from the bottom of my chest.

Could this truly be called the power of a human?

[A Precept is a law. The world of a Great Precept realized through Precepts applies laws different from the world of the Golden Rule, so an Ordinary Person cannot withstand it. I apologize for my lack of consideration.]

“It is all right…… But why did you go this far to prepare an alternate space?”

[To speak with the Possessor who would find this place in the future.]

The Possessor in the future.

He already knew that I was a Possessor.

The mist before me spoke.

[Are you perhaps the “Great Master”?]

“……If you are a Possessor too, should you not be able to tell by measuring the timing?”

[You are careful with your answer. That is a good attitude. As you say, originally, that should have been the case, but one day, all the information suddenly vanished from my memories.]

“The information……?”

[Yes. I believe it was around a hundred years ago.]

A hundred years ago.

That was precisely the period when the Record-Erasure took place along with Enlil’s massacre.

Could it be related to that?

[Well, it does not matter when it was. The reason I asked for your identity was to check your attitude. If you had tried to say it, I would have stopped you.]

“So I must be careful with my answers.”

[Yes. When facing beings from “above,” always be careful, and then be careful again. The reason I consumed one Precept merely to arrange a place for conversation was to avoid their gaze.]

I recalled that the Apostle I had met at the Temple last time had said something similar.

If I met a being from “above,” I had to be careful with my words.

[They are always watching the entire dungeon like lunatics. After the loss of information a hundred years ago, that “gaze” became even stronger. Especially that mad old monster of Lorentze. Even this space is not perfect.]

“By Lorentze…… you mean the place that controls the Temple’s Enforcement Division? I heard they identify and kill Possessors.”

[Hm? Identify? Kill……? Hwahahahaha!!]

After hearing about the Enforcement Division and Possessors, he suddenly burst into loud laughter.

As if he had heard something incredibly absurd.

‘What is this……!’

At the sound of his laughter, heaven and earth trembled as if they would collapse.

My insides churned.

My breath stopped. My lungs tightened.

A sensation as though the side effects of the Second Floor had been amplified without end shook my insides into a pulp.

“Haaah……. Khaaaah…….”

While I gasped for breath, he spoke, openly revealing his displeasure toward Lorentze.

[Do you think that serpent-like bastard would seek out Possessors for such a flimsy reason? No. That is all an excuse.]

“……?”

[Do not try to know too much. Before you can withstand it, it is better that you do not know.]

Do not speak of it before you can withstand it.

This, too, was the same thing as what the Thought in the Temple had said.

It was something I could not understand at all, but he did not seem to have any intention of telling me more than that.

[There is a little time before I deliver my warning. If you are curious about anything, ask. I will answer one thing.]

Something I was curious about.

There was a mountain of things.

Things about Enlil.

The true identity of Jin Ryeon himself.

What sort of existence Masters were…… and what exactly the meaning of “Ethrana” was.

Each and every one of them was something I wanted to know, but after repeated thought, I eventually asked the most fundamental question.

“……Why did you not clear the dungeon?”

[It is not that we did not. We could not.]

I tilted my head slightly.

Even with this much power, they could not clear it?

This alone already far surpassed every spec one could obtain in the game.

[Knowledge from the game is not absolute. It merely gave you the most “basic” knowledge. Throughout the dungeon, countless threats that were not recorded in the game are scattered everywhere.]

“……Could you not cooperate? If the Masters joined forces…….”

[Hahaha.]

He laughed.

However, unlike before, it was a bitter laugh tinged with self-mockery.

[Have you never thought of this? If the dungeon is cleared, can we all return home? Or does only the “person who clears it” return? No…… In the first place, is there even a reason to return?]

“…….”

[True Persons, including my main body, all have something wrong with their minds. Every last one of them is mad. Abandon the expectation that they will share ordinary interests.]

“I see…….”

I wanted to ask if that meant he, as a residual Thought, was also mad, but I restrained myself.

As a person of civilized society, I knew how to distinguish between what should and should not be said…….

‘Is that so. I had never thought of it that way.’

Come to think of it, Herman said one could return if they cleared the game, but he had never said that was all there was to it.

Returning might apply to everyone, or it might apply only to a portion.

In the first place…… a Master who had grown to prefer the Golden Land might not wish to return…….

‘I was missing something obvious.’

I felt as though I could understand a little of the purpose of the Downfall Order, which tried to hunt and kill me even while knowing that I was the Great Master.

I was the very possibility of clearing the dungeon.

The dungeon being cleared meant that the current daily life would collapse.

They might be trying to stop the world from returning to its original state through me.

[Hmm…… I would like to speak more, but there is not much time. Then I will carry out my original purpose.]

He spoke.

[There is only one thing I wish to tell you. Beware the dregs of Downfall. Prepare for their rise and protect the Second Floor.]

“For now, we are strengthening the Inspection, but.”

[That is not something you can stop with a mere measure like that. It is something that will “certainly” happen.]

He emphasized it again and again.

As though the rise of the Downfall Order was something predetermined, and as though it would bring about a great disaster.

[If you came here, then you must have seen those “Puppets,” yes?]

“That…… is true.”

[In the past, I dealt with them and had my disciples seal them in this land, but the fact that you found me means that seal has exhausted its power.]

The moment I heard those words, I recalled the headless warrior who had guarded the Boss Room.

The only one in that place full of Puppets that had possessed a human body.

I thought that might have been the disciple Jin Ryeon spoke of.

[The Downfall Order has coveted the power of the “Puppets” for a long time. They will surely try to awaken and use it.]

“Hmm…….”

Was that so dangerous?

I had obtained and used them several times in the game, but although their performance had been good, I had never thought of them as particularly dangerous.

However, Jin Ryeon seemed to think differently, and he urged me again and again in a serious voice.

[Prepare for their rise. To protect the floor and prevent destruction, that first step is absolutely necessary. Keep this in mind. Once the monsters of the Sixth Floor begin crawling up, it will be too late.]

My consciousness grew distant.

The time that had been permitted was coming to an end.

Beyond my darkening vision, his warnings continued like echoes.

[Beware the Royal Family…….]

[Prepare for “Downfall”…….]

[You must never trust the True Persons…….]

[Beware the “Forbidden Name,” and never speak it aloud…….]

[Hold your tongue, and hold it again. You must absolutely avoid becoming entangled with True Persons…….]

[You must never forget my warning…….]

***

When I came to my senses again, I was outside.

I had destroyed the Puppet’s remains, and I had obtained the one Secret Manual stored there.

“Just now…….”

The broken Puppet and the Secret Manual.

Even with the reward I had wanted right in front of me, I could not bring myself to pick it up.

“What are you doing? Are you not picking it up?”

“Ah, yeah…….”

Persica’s puzzled voice brought me back to my senses.

On the broken Puppet, the shape of the sword I had glimpsed for an instant was nowhere to be seen.

And…….

‘No time passed at all.’

It felt as though we had talked for at least thirty minutes.

But here, not even an instant had passed.

I reflected on the warning Jin Ryeon’s residual Thought had left behind.

‘Beware the Royal Family and prepare for Downfall…….’

The existence of the Royal Family was shrouded in mystery, yet he seemed to know something.

As for preparing for Downfall, that was probably referring to the Downfall Order.

‘Do not trust True Persons…… Masters…….’

Jin Ryeon had spoken of Masters as extremely ominous and dangerous beings.

Also, the warning that followed.

‘The Forbidden Name.’

Jin Ryeon had never spoken of what it was, but I felt as though I knew that name.

The rest of Ishara’s name.

The thing even the Thought in the Temple had strongly warned me not to speak.

‘What exactly is it? What is there in Ishara’s name…….’

I did not know. There were only things I did not know.

And the reason was…… surely because I was weak.

Because I had not yet gained power, I did not even have the opportunity to hear the truth.

“Are you hurt somewhere?”

“……It is nothing.”

I picked up the Secret Manual that had fallen on the ground.

There were only things I did not know, but one thing was clear.

The direction I had to move in!

‘I have to become stronger.’

I had to become stronger and gain the qualification to face the truth.

I gripped Ishara’s hilt tightly.

‘By the way, how is the Downfall Order supposed to come here?’

Every road had been blocked by Inspection, and the Temple was searching for them with its eyes wide open.

In effect, every path by which they could come up to the Second Floor should have been blocked.

“No way.”

I turned my head and looked at the enormous river visible beyond the hill.

The upside-down river that flowed from the deepest floor of the dungeon toward the surface.

“……That is impossible.”

That was a river that devoured all living things.

Even with late-game specs, jumping into the river was practically suicide.

I erased that useless possibility and prepared to return to White Cloud Castle.

***

A few days later.

Lavina, who had arrived at White Cloud Castle with Isran’s group, received simple treatment and then headed to South Spirit Mountain.

This time, she went honestly, without any shortcuts.

Because Persica had threatened that if she acted recklessly and ended up in danger of dying, she would not save her.

“This is…….”

And so, in order to complete her original mission, she reached the site of South Spirit Mountain.

A vast Hill Country so enormous it was difficult to take in at a glance.

Looking at the place that had once been a mountain, she knelt down.

“A-Ancestor…… I came to the place you told me about.”

She grasped the pendant hanging from her neck.

Wooooong─

The pendant trembled.

With a faint light, the being connected to it spoke.

─I can feel it…….

─It is not an ordinary Master…….

─It is a being who has touched the very end of it……!

An enormous Thought-Force moved.

Even to this faraway place, the aftermath of those intense emotions reached her.

Feeling the Thought-Force that bordered on madness, Lavina trembled in fear.

─Has “he” come? Has history finally…… finally begun to move!

─O Great Master!

─Owner of the “Forbidden Name”!

─I must find him!

─I must find him!