Chapter 66

Chapter 66

Ebla’s Central Temple was bustling with visitors today as well.

After struggling through the crowd, I requested the use of a prayer room from the Priest in charge.

“This way. It is an honor to serve you, Brother.”

After confirming my Platinum Token, the Priest guided me to the prayer room with the utmost courtesy.

“I would like to be alone for a while.”

“Yes. Then please come find us again once you have finished your cultivation.”

At my request to be alone, the Priest withdrew.

Prayer rooms were sometimes rented out not only for prayer, but also for meditation or wall-facing practice, so sending people away was not difficult.

Of course, the usage fee varied depending on the rental time, but the minimum was enough for me.

Because,

[I did not expect you to come back this quickly.]

Whenever I met this person, time stopped.

In a world dyed gray, I faced the Apostle of the Golden Rule.

“It has been a while. Have you been well?”

[You may be the only one who asks me how I am.]

He chuckled.

Perhaps because he had been cooped up alone and was glad to hear a human voice, his reaction seemed rather pleased.

When I handed him the sword, the Apostle touched the gem embedded within it and let out a quiet exclamation.

[Oh…… This is surprising. The Authority of Awakening.]

As expected, the Fragment the puppet had possessed had been absorbed by the sword.

It seemed the Authority dwelling within that Fragment was the Authority of Awakening.

[This is…… Oh-ho.]

Then, after touching the Fragment embedded in the sword, he looked at me with a strange smile.

[It seems the being inside had already come out, did she? I can feel that the Fragment’s power has been exhausted.]

“That seems to be the case. I was unconscious, so I did not see it.”

[A pity. That must have been quite a spectacle.]

It truly had been a spectacle.

The terrain of the Second Floor itself had changed.

‘So it really was Ishara who blew away South Spirit Mountain.’

There was no doubt that she had come outside and exerted her power.

Power great enough to erase a mountain with a single strike.

It was something I had already been somewhat certain of, but hearing confirmation like this still left me feeling unsettled.

[In any case, the Authority of Awakening. This is precious even among Fragments, so how did you obtain it?]

“I stole it from the Downfall Order.”

[Heh heh. Those bastards must be smarting.]

So even Fragments differed in value.

It seemed the Fragment I had brought this time was of a higher grade than the Authority of Transference.

[I will melt it into the sword. However, this time it will take some time. This is quite a high-ranking Authority.]

“What function does it have?”

[It is exactly as the name implies: ‘awakening.’ It is an Authority that blooms the ‘possibilities’ possessed by the user. Originally, it was an Authority used when a god bestowed a Divine Ability upon a human.]

The blooming of possibility.

After hearing that, I understood the strange power the puppet had used.

The reason the Disintegration Light of 「Lābes」 had been able to fire in the form of beams was all because this Authority of Awakening had exerted its power.

The sudden explosive increase in the performance of 「Divine Strike Fist」 must have worked on the same principle.

“But is it all right for it to take time? Last time, I think you said you should not stay out for long.”

[Normally, it would not be. But this time is somewhat different.]

Even the Apostle answered in a slightly puzzled tone.

[I do not feel the gaze that was always watching this side. It seems something has happened to ‘him.’]

“Do you mean Lorentze’s master, by any chance?”

[Oh-ho, you know that fellow? Correct.]

Lorentze’s master.

According to Persica, while I was unconscious, he had tried to verify whether I was a Possessor, only to suddenly flee.

‘Did Ishara do something?’

That was the only part I could guess.

It was chilling to me, but at the same time, it was fortunate.

The fact that he was silent meant there was no chance I would be suspected as a Possessor by the Enforcement Division for the time being.

[In any case, since we have plenty of time today, let us talk. Is there anything you are curious about?]

“Are you the only Apostle of the Golden Rule?”

[Are you curious about who I am? You are a sociable young man.]

Perhaps he had been quite lonely, now that I saw it.

He seemed rather pleased by the personal question and continued speaking.

[Before Downfall, there were quite a few like me. About nine, I suppose.]

“You suppose…… Does that mean not anymore?”

[Time is time, after all. Now, even including me, there are probably only two or three.]

Two or three.

Perhaps Herman was among them.

After all, his build, his voice, and even his clothing were all identical.

“Do you know their names?”

[No. We are not exactly on terms where we communicate with one another…… Ah, I do know one.]

He clapped his hands and said,

[Gregorio Morgan.]

“……!”

[Judging by your expression, it seems you know that name as well.]

Saint Gregorio.

Gordon had told me that name before.

The first Possessor, and the pioneer who opened the Dungeon and made the present Ebla possible.

A being still revered as a Saint for those achievements.

‘To think he was an Apostle of the Golden Rule.’

I had learned an unexpected fact.

Moreover, the fact that the Apostle mentioned him directly meant that, at the very least, he was someone who could still be alive.

‘Should I assume he reached Master at minimum?’

The most representative way to overcome one’s lifespan was to reach Master.

Gordon had once told me that once someone became a Master and leapt into being a being “above,” their lifespan disappeared.

“Why are you telling me that now?”

[You never asked.]

“…….”

I had nothing to say to that.

Well, even if I knew his identity, it did not mean I could do anything right away.

I sighed and said,

“Then what is your name?”

[Ha ha. Are you curious about my name too? I would like to tell you, but……]

He shook his head regretfully.

[I will give no comment. When the time comes later, you will naturally find out.]

“…….”

This again.

This person never properly told me anything.

As if he was teasing me.

At this point, even I could not help feeling a little irritated out of frustration.

“You never tell me anything properly.”

[It cannot be helped. Knowledge is ‘poison.’]

“Poison……?”

He nodded.

[In this world, there are many things that put you in danger simply by knowing them. Especially matters connected to beings ‘above.’]

His voice grew somewhat serious as he cautioned me.

[To know means to have ‘observed.’ And in our world, observation is never one-way.]

“Not one-way means…….”

[The door can be opened from the other side as well. If you observe something, another being can use that as a medium to observe you.]

“…….”

Just by knowing something, Higher Beings could observe me?

Goosebumps suddenly rose across my skin.

I understood why the Apostle and Jin Ryeon’s Thought had hidden information so thoroughly.

They had been trying to protect me from “knowledge.”

“……Actually, I met a Master below.”

[Goodness. Surely Enlil?]

“No. Just as you said, there were traces on the Second Floor, but I did not meet her.”

[That is fortunate. Well, had you met her, you would not have returned intact.]

Was she that dangerous?

Then he should have warned me, not just said something about traces.

I sighed and said,

“I met Jin Ryeon. To be precise, it was his Residual Thought.”

[Ah, White Cloud Zen Master. Among Masters, he is at least a gentlemanly one. You were lucky.]

Lucky…… That must mean Jin Ryeon had observed me as well.

At the same time, it meant he was a gentlemanly person and would not harm me.

I had expected it to some extent, but I could not help feeling bitter.

“This is an extension of that conversation, but he warned me about several things. Among them, there were two that remained in my memory.”

[Oh? What were they?]

“One was the ‘puppet’ on the Sixth Floor.”

[Puppet? A puppet.]

His reaction was somewhat uncomfortable.

[If you are asking about that, it will be difficult for me to answer. I do not know much about it either.]

“There are things even you do not know?”

[Listen. I am not a god. To begin with, that is something buried in the Deep Floors of the Dungeon, is it not? I died before the Dungeon even opened, so how would I know that? All I have is hearsay.]

“I see.”

So he had died before the Dungeon opened.

Then had he learned the information after that by sitting here and listening to the people coming and going?

The Temple was a place with plenty to overhear, so it was not strange, but it felt somehow unpleasant, like voyeurism.

“……And the other was the ‘Forbidden Name.’”

[…….]

“Is that, by any chance, the same thing you stopped me from saying before?”

The Apostle’s presence changed abruptly.

The light atmosphere sank in an instant, and his voice dropped low.

[Correct.]

“…….”

As expected, the Forbidden Name was “Ethrana.”

What in the world was in Ishara’s name?

What connection did it have to the game’s name…… ……?

‘He will not tell me even if I ask. And I cannot ask.’

If one could be observed simply by knowing, then saying it aloud was no different from self-destruction.

And because I had heard that, I had to ask something else.

“Why is it forbidden?”

[You ask a difficult question……]

He scratched his head as if extremely troubled.

[Just know that Masters and other high-ranking beings are searching for it with bloodshot eyes. I cannot tell you more than that. The moment even a tiny trace is revealed, Ebla will be overturned.]

“…….”

So not only the name, but even information related to it was off-limits?

That was truly extraordinary.

“The Fragment I said I stole from the Downfall Order was actually embedded in the puppet’s heart. They were using it as a Power Source.”

[Is that so? Well, there is no reason it would be imposs—]

“And that puppet said ‘that name’ at the very end.”

[…….]

The Apostle’s body flinched.

That was clearly the greatest emotional disturbance he had shown.

[It…… said that?]

“Yes.”

[You mean it spoke it aloud? It uttered it?]

“Yes.”

[That is……]

His voice trembled.

As if complex emotions were surging through him, he could not easily compose himself and pressed a hand to his forehead.

[That is an important matter.]

“The fact that the puppet said the name?”

[Yes. And the fact that you returned alive despite having been there.]

“…….”

[There are more than one or two beings who would descend merely from ‘that name’ being spoken aloud……]

He had said that merely knowing something allowed one to be observed.

Then speaking it aloud with one’s own voice must make one even easier to observe.

That was probably why the Apostle was so flustered.

Even though it had been spoken aloud, nothing had happened there.

[Damn it. I have never lamented being a bound spirit of the Temple as much as I do today. If what you say is true, then this truly is an important matter. It means the puppet has some means of avoiding their eyes.]

“Do you know something?”

[No.]

He shook his head and said,

[But I know a place that may have records concerning the puppet.]

“Where is it?”

[Capella Observatory.]

I was slightly surprised by those words.

Capella Observatory was the name of the Magic Tower on the Third Floor.

It was also a destination I would have to visit later.

[The ‘Secret Archive’ there possesses almost every record of the Ancient Dungeon. Go there.]

“Is the Secret Archive not somewhere just anyone can enter?”

[Most likely.]

“……How do I get in?”

[Why are you asking me? Try appealing with that handsome face of yours.]

I suddenly felt the urge to flick his forehead.

What happened to this being important?

“……Among the things you have overheard here, was there nothing about how to enter the Secret Archive?”

[If they have heads on their shoulders, they would not speak carelessly of such things. They must have placed restrictions or prohibitions on it.]

“…….”

[In any case, what you mentioned is likely not unrelated to the Downfall Order’s use of that puppet. Perhaps those bastards already know the reason.]

In the end, it all circled back to the Downfall Order.

At present, their range of movement had been narrowed by their conflict with the Temple.

Gordon had said they would lie low for the time being, so entering the Dungeon should be fine…… but entering the Observatory was the problem.

Access there was restricted unless one was an affiliated Mage.

[It is done. Take it.]

While I had been thinking, the sword’s enhancement was finished.

There was no major change to its appearance, but I could see that the color of the embedded gem had become slightly more bluish.

[This time, there is no change to its offensive ability. All that happened is that the Authority of Awakening has settled within it.]

“Hmm…… Do you not know what the Fragment’s effect is?”

[The effect of the Authority of Awakening differs from person to person. However…… it is somewhat unexpected that it is still silent. Normally, its effect should have appeared the instant it settled in.]

He tilted his head as if he did not know the cause either.

Was there some kind of condition?

[Well, the being inside may have done something again. She should be able to come out again now, after all.]

“She can…… awaken again?”

[The Fragment has been restored. If only for a short time, it should be possible as before. Of course, that is assuming the being inside wants to come out.]

“…….”

[Today is the first time in a thousand years that I have talked to my heart’s content. Did something happen to that fellow of Lorentze……?]

He let out a deep sigh.

[Then go back now. Handling a great Authority has made me tired.]

He waved his hand dismissively, and before I could even say goodbye, he vanished.

The Apostle’s figure disappeared, and the gray world regained its original colors.

In that place where time had begun to flow once more, I stroked Ishara’s sword blade and thought,

“The Third Floor……”

My next destination had been decided.

***

In the deep underground of the Dungeon, in the depths of the Downfall Order.

Bishop Jurgen arrived at an empty Shrine Hall and collapsed onto the floor.

“I thought I was going to die……”

He had never imagined Lorentze’s master would appear.

Still less had he imagined that he would use Descent of the Great Precept against him.

Since Jurgen was also an Aura user, he had truly managed to escape by the skin of his teeth, but because of that, he was so exhausted that even breathing was difficult.

‘They say blood relatives are powerful Spirit Mediums, and it seems that was true.’

Normally, it was difficult to display the power of a Master through possession by a Thought.

That was because an Ordinary Person’s body could not endure such overwhelming power.

However, in the case of descendants, the story was a little different.

Provided they had aptitude, they could become powerful Spirit Mediums capable of unleashing a Master’s power, if only for a short time.

“So they are spare bodies. No wonder he treasures them.”

They were the means by which Lorentze’s master could roam throughout the Dungeon, and in themselves, they were spare lives.

That was why Lorentze was so tolerant of the descendants’ actions after they passed the Selection Grounds.

After all, they were nothing more than a fish pen whose bodies he would eventually steal.

Animals inside a pen only needed to receive feed and grow well.

“Whew…… In any case, I survived, and the mission was completed.”

He had heard from Zenom about the puppet’s final moments.

The puppet had been destroyed, and the Fragment was presumed to have been taken by the Great Master.

Zenom had flown into a rage, but in truth, that had been Jurgen’s real objective.

After all, that was the order he had received from the Cult Leader.

‘To be precise, the order was to leave things as they were if the Great Master took the Fragment.’

His mission had two parts.

First, activate the puppet and make it fight the Great Master.

Second, if the Great Master won, hand the Fragment over to him.

It was a strange order.

It was an order that seemed, from the very beginning, as though the goal had been to give the Fragment to him.

Jurgen had never intended to fight Isran from the start.

The reason he had come along with Zenom was because he thought that if he sent only that old man, he would try to kill Isran directly.

Jurgen knew that man’s grotesque tastes well.

“What is the Cult Leader thinking……?”

He did not understand, but he did not question it further.

He was merely a Bishop.

He followed the orders given by the Cult Leader.

That was all.

“By the way, what happened to that man of Lorentze?”

After rampaging so violently, he had returned to the surface and shut himself away without any further activity.

What had happened?

What could have happened to make that violent and bloodthirsty being cease his activities?

Jurgen had no way of knowing.

***

The deepest room of Lorentze’s mansion.

In that place, dimly lit only by candlelight, a man let out a sigh.

[Damn it…….]

Lorentze’s master.

‘He’ still could not forget the “Great Being” he had encountered on the Second Floor.

Her warning still seemed to ring in his head.

Pressing down on his trembling hand, ‘he’ muttered,

[Why is a being like that still remaining on the surface? Damn it…….]

He had to find the Great Master, the master of the “Forbidden Name.”

Only then could he fulfill his long-cherished wish, yet he had stepped on a landmine in a completely unexpected place.

Isran.

That was not something like a Possessor.

He was something far more dangerous…… a human under the protection of a “Great Being.”

[No…… No. This may actually be an opportunity.]

Think positively.

He had encountered a being who had surpassed the sky.

Perhaps he might no longer need to go through the trouble of searching for a Possessor.

If he could only borrow that being’s power, leaping into the true world “above” might not be a dream.

Isran.

He had to make that human his ally.

He had to obtain the proxy of the Great Being.

[I must draw him in……!]

His bloodshot eyes flashed in the darkness.