Chapter 104
For a moment, my vision turned completely black.
It felt as though I were floating in an endless dark void.
Leon looked just as startled by the sudden darkness, so it wasn't something wrong with my eyes.
Then chat messages began appearing one after another in the air.
Damn, it's been forever lol
I almost got dizzy waiting for this!!!
That 50th-floor Administrator wouldn't even open the channel. I was bored out of my mind lol
I'm still pissed you didn't choose me... but yeah, I gotta watch this.
(Waving happily) Hello, everyone! Long time no see!
Even the old fossil must've had a rough time lol. Look at him learning weird new stuff hahahahaha
It had been a long time since I'd seen the chat.
Messages scrolled down at incredible speed.
The sponsorships were no different.
[The Constellations of Olympus sponsor 200,000 Coins in celebration of your return.]
[The Constellations of Asgard refuse to lose and sponsor 300,000 Coins.]
[The Constellations of Paradise smile benevolently and sponsor 400,000 Coins.]
.
.
.
It was as though they were making up for everything they'd missed through sponsorships.
My Coin balance rose considerably.
[Coins Owned: 16,560,000]
I probably possessed more Coins now than most ordinary Constellations.
Which meant there were countless ways I could use them.
Leon. Open the Title Shop.
[ No problem, nya. Leave it to me. ]
A new window appeared.
Hundreds of Titles were listed from the highest grade downward.
Among them was Dragon Slayer.
Price:
10,000,000 Coins.
Figures.
Against dragons, its effects are absurdly powerful.
There were also plenty of things that hadn't been available before.
Rare materials.
Items even I had never seen.
Rustle....
The darkness covering my vision slowly receded.
When I opened my eyes, the scenery had changed yet again.
The place looked strangely familiar.
A burning temple.
Statues surrounding it from every direction.
Every statue looked different.
Different appearances.
Different races.
Yet every one of them was staring at me.
With sorrowful eyes.
Where exactly is this...?
I froze.
Right.
I remembered.
This was the first place I'd seen when I obtained the Apostle's power and looked into the Primordial God's memories.
Thousands of years ago...
This was where he had been betrayed by the other Constellations.
[The 49th floor is the Myth of the ‘Forgotten Constellation’.]
[Each statue represents one of the Primordial God's retainers who betrayed him.]
[Upon clearing this floor, you may obtain one of the ‘Sacred Relics of the Forgotten Constellation’.]
[Clear Condition: Awaken and destroy one of the statues.]
I slowly walked past the statues, examining them one by one.
Some were crying.
Others had turned their heads away, unable to bear looking toward the center.
Even the Constellation who had personally sealed the Primordial God was the same.
Behind his cold, frozen expression...
There seemed to be grief.
[This is ‘Belkinus,’ a retainer who betrayed the Primordial God.]
Pointed ears like an elf.
Dark skin.
He looked like a Dark Elf.
[A target eligible for Trait Plunder has been detected.]
Shadow Monarch (S)
Dark Magic (S)
High Lord (S)
Shadow Step (A)
[Condition: Earn Belkinus's acknowledgment.]
Shadow Monarch.
An evolved form of the Necromancer Trait.
There was no limit to the number of summoned entities.
And as long as the user successfully dominated a target, practically anything could be made subordinate.
Those subordinates were reborn stronger than they had been before.
As expected of a High Lord.
It was an absurd ability.
Who the hell are all these guys?
And what even is the Forgotten Constellation? Why does his myth look like this?
Yeah. Normally myths aren't like this.
The aura coming from those statues is seriously weird....
What the hell is this? Hmm;;
It seemed the Constellations didn't know who these beings were either.
All of them looked confused.
No.
Maybe some knew and simply weren't speaking.
To them, the Primordial God's existence was more of a loss than a benefit.
And several Constellations were already reacting strangely.
[‘Miracle of Three Days’ looks at the statue with pity.]
[‘One-Eyed White-Haired Old Man’ touches the scar on his right arm while staring at him.]
[‘God of Womanizers’ lets out a low groan.]
Most either looked at him with pity...
Or chose to remain silent.
Why?
They were acting as though he were already dead.
[‘Father of the Wealthy Night’ expends Intervention Power to send Player Lee Suhyeok a private message.]
[Accept?]
After Leon became a Mid-Level Administrator, several parts of the System had changed.
One of them was this.
A Constellation could now expend Intervention Power to communicate directly with me.
Leon had said it was mostly useless because the Constellation side bore the cost.
So whatever Hades wanted to say must've been important.
[Player Lee Suhyeok accepts.]
[Time Limit: 10 minutes.]
[No one except the participants may access this message.]
[ Can you hear me? ]
A familiar voice echoed directly inside my head.
Hades.
So it worked like telepathic transmission.
[ Yeah. I can hear you. ]
[ Your tone is still like some prematurely old man. Though you somehow look more approachable than before, so I don't know whether to call that an improvement. ]
We exchanged a brief greeting.
Then I went straight to the point.
[ That statue. ]
[ Belkinus. ]
[ Do you know him? ]
A short silence followed.
Then Hades finally answered.
[ ...Yes. ]
[ Very well. ]
[ I was there on the day we ‘killed him.’ ]
I froze.
Why had they killed Belkinus?
He should've been on the Constellations' side.
Had something else happened in the memories I hadn't seen?
[ Then did the rest of those statues die alongside Belkinus too? ]
[ No. Let me ask again. ]
[ Why did you kill them? ]
Hades answered as though it were obvious.
[ Because they were deceived. ]
[ They believed that if they killed their master, the Forgotten Constellation... no, the Primordial God, they could protect their brothers and sisters. ]
Only then did I understand why all those statues wore such sorrowful expressions.
Once the Primordial God stood against the Constellations...
His retainers naturally became their enemies as well.
They hadn't been certain they could survive.
So they betrayed their master.
Desperately trying to save themselves.
